Tacoma Receives Four of the Biggest Cranes on U.S. West Coast

A ship carrying four of the West Coast’s largest container cranes is scheduled to arrive in Tacoma on February 23.

The Zhen Hua 28, a 50,000 dwt heavy-lift ship, will begin the journey through Puget Sound and into Tacoma on Friday. The ship will wait at anchor in Commencement Bay briefly before delivering the cranes to Tacoma's Husky Terminal, which is undergoing a $250 million renovation.

Upgrades at Husky Terminal include strengthening and realigning a berth and adding eight new super-post-Panamax cranes capable of serving two 18,000-TEU container ships at the same time. The new cranes will have an outreach of 24 containers and a lift height of 165 feet above the pier deck - fully fifty feet higher than the port's current equipment, and about on par with APMT Los Angeles' recently heightened STS cranes. 

The Northwest Seaport Alliance ordered the eight cranes from Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC) in China through a competitive bidding process. The other four will arrive in 2019. The port notes that ZPMC is one of the world's only manufacturers of cranes in this size range, and no American manufacturers compete in the category.