|
Last Updated: Dec 29, 2011 - 2:18:31 AM |
|
The Freeport News: It's arrival may or may not have been coincidental, but naming it was intentional.
The new quay side container crane arrived at the Freeport Container Port arrived on Friday, November 11 (11/11/11) and has been given the designated name Crane 11.
The 34 storey mega crane, took two months to arrive in The Bahamas from China, where it was manufactured.
Before going into the details of the new crane Gary Gilbert, CEO of Freeport Container Port, took time out to honor the memories of the men who lost their lives in one of the cranes at the Port during a tornado which struck Grand Bahama on March 29, 2010. The new crane replaces the one that was lost during that horrific incident.
"We must honor the memories of Michael Young, Cleveland Lowe and Shawn Saunders, as well as those who were injured on that day," said Gilbert.
He said that they are very excited about the arrival of the new crane to the Container Port, because not only does the new crane replaces the one that was destroyed, but because of its vastness, it will go a long way in helping the Container Port do even more business in the future.
"We think this crane is going to bring us a lot of luck, because it arrived on the 11th day of the 11th month of 2011," said Gilbert.
"It was a beautiful thing coming in this morning and we are hopeful for the future.
"This is one of the biggest cranes in the world and it can handle some of the biggest ships in the world, so we're looking forward to all of the possibilities this brings with it."
The new crane weights 12,000 tons and has an outreach of 404 feet across a ship.
Gilbert noted that the Container Port just recently completed dredging another one thousand metres of berth, which will allow the Port to hold even larger vessels.
He said that presently Port Director, Godfrey Smith is in Europe soliciting new business for bigger ships to come to Freeport, particularly with the arrival of the new massive crane.
"The biggest ship that we have brought in here so far with our other cranes has been under 10,000, we can handle ships as much as 12,000 with the existing cranes, but this new crane can handle up to an 18,000 Container ship.
"The significance of that is that right now places like Savannah and Jacksonville are having difficulty because we have very, very deep water and we have very, very big cranes, whereas, their water depths are only at 40 feet and they will have to dredge another 10 feet to bring in the kind of ships that we can handle here. Right now, our water is 56 feet deep so we can take in the ships as big as they come.
"Just in Jacksonville and Savannah, large companies such as Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart and others have many, many warehouses that they distribute to in the southeast and the midwest and for them they have over 30 million square feet of warehouse, that these big ships can't get too.
"There are a lot of issues here and so we're hoping that there is a transhipping possibility in all of this for us, especially with this new crane."
Gilbert said that they are hoping to get in new shipping clients as a result of the new crane.
SOURCE
© Copyright 2011 by thebahamasweekly.com
Top of Page
|
