Georgia Ports Authority orders 20 RTG cranes

The cranes, on order to Konecranes for about $1.9 million each, are expected to be delivered next year to the Port of Savannah.

   The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) has ordered a fleet of 20 Konecranes rubber-tired gantry cranes for the Port of Savannah at a cost of about $1.9 million per crane.
   The 16-wheel RTGs, which have a lifting capacity of 50 tons, a stacking height of 1-over-5 and a stacking width of six plus truck lane wide, are expected to be delivered next year and commissioned in late 2020, said a GPA spokesperson by email Monday. Konecranes booked the order in the first quarter, it said Monday in a press release. 
   The cranes on order also are diesel-electric machines with cable reef readiness for electric operations. Currently, 45 of GPA’s fleet of 146 RTG cranes are equipped to use a bus bar system installed at the Port of Savannah’s Garden City Terminal in 2012, the spokesperson said, and three RTG cranes at the Appalachian Regional Port use electric cable reel.
   “While the new RTGs give Georgia Ports the flexibility to operate via electric power, the authority is reviewing the capability to support a cable reel power system for RTGs,” the spokesperson said. “As such, the GPA is reviewing both electric RTG systems. Additionally, all 30 of GPA’s ship-to-shore cranes are electric powered.”
   The new cranes also will be equipped with Konecranes’ active load control system, which prevents container sway; an auto-steering feature, which keeps the cranes on a preprogrammed, straight driving path; and Konecranes’ TRUCONNECT remote monitoring system.
   GPA is set to have 12 RTG cranes delivered in 2019, which, including the ones recently ordered, will raise its fleet to 158 cranes, the largest in the U.S., Konecranes said.