Port Tampa Bay welcomes twins: two new Post-Panamax gantry cranes

April 17, 2016

Port Tampa Bay received a huge delivery recently: two Post-Panamax gantry cranes!

With the addition of these cranes, Florida’s largest port will increase its capacity in containerized cargo. Once the cranes become operational this summer, Port Tampa Bay will be able to handle ships of 9,000 TEUs, or 20-foot equivalents, which is twice the current capability.

Not only do the new cranes have extending booms that allow access to wider ships, the cranes are safer than the ones currently in use. The two new cranes, which made a three-month journey by boat from Shanghai, will replace one of the three older, smaller cranes.

These cranes are just the latest investment made by Port Tampa in order to make it easier for ships, trucks, and trains to move products both in and out of the Tampa area. With strong population growth expected in the I-4 Corridor, the area plans to see increased activity in local distribution centers as a result. The $24 million, 1,600-ton cranes are also expected to foster job growth for truck drivers, operators, laborers, and logistics services.

“The end goal is, if we get more cargo here and put more on CSX trains and we put more on trucks for local consumption, that means more jobs, more revenue for those companies but most importantly just a better supply chain for the Tampa Bay, I-4 corridor,” Port Tampa CEO Paul Anderson told the Tampa Bay Business Journal.