Dive Brief:

• JAXPORT last week received three new, 100-gauge electric container cranes that should expand the Jacksonville, Florida, seaport's cargo-handling capabilities at its Blount Island Terminal.
• The cranes should be operational by the end of this year. Each can lift up to 65 tons, will stand 220 feet tall and have 100 feet of distance between the legs and the rails on which the cranes operate.
• The cranes are equipped to service wider, post-Panamax vessels with the ability to reach across 22 containers, a significant increase from the 16 container capabilities of the terminal’s current cranes, JAXPORT says.

Dive Insight:

JAXPORT CEO Brian Taylor said the port's investments aim to make it more competitive and to accelerate cargo growth. “The addition of these cranes is a critical step toward supporting the ever-larger ships calling on the port through the Suez Canal as well as the newly expanded Panama Canal," he said. JAXPORT plans to purchase 10 of the cranes for Blount Island over the next 10 years.

Several U.S. East Coast and Gulf of Mexico ports have undertaken projects to accommodate the bigger ships traversing the Panama Canal after its $5.3 billion expansion. The canal's new third lock will enable larger ships to pass en route to and from Asia.

In addition to buying cranes, U.S. ports are expanding or deepening so that larger ships can come directly to them, saving time and avoiding the need to load goods on trains from West Coast ports.