The Port of Savannah received a massive delivery Thursday: four towering ship-to-shore cranes built to load and unload larger classes of cargo ships at the fourth-busiest U.S. container port.
The giant ocean carrier Biglift Baffin sailed Thursday afternoon past Savannah’s downtown riverfront on the final stretch of its voyage to the busy seaport. All four cranes were strapped across its deck, protruding from each side like a giant set of wings.
The cranes measure more than 306 feet tall and can lift 72.8 tons, according to the Georgia Ports Authority. They were built by Finland-based Konecranes and will be installed at a newly expanded cargo berth at the Savannah port's main container terminal.
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Scheduled to come online this summer, the upgrades will expand the terminal’s annual berth capacity by about 25%.
It's one of several projects the Georgia Ports Authority has underway to grow capacity in Savannah, which handled a record 5.8 million container units of imports and exports in the 2022 fiscal year that ended June 30.
A seven-year, $973 million deepening of Savannah’s shipping channel completed last year allows larger ships to carry more cargo without waiting for higher tides.
