FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PORTLAND, ORE. (September 4, 2009) - Federal Grant Gets Port Crane Project Moving

How do you move a 16 story, 1,200 ton crane? Very carefully.

Moving the oldest of the Port’s post-Panamax cranes off the dock was necessary to avoid impacting the other cranes and hampering regular business operations.

Before the crane could be moved, it had to be lifted off of the dock using hydraulic jacks and stacks of wood resembling a game of Jenga.

Specialized work crews have lifted one of the Port’s nine container cranes off of the docks at Terminal 6 using heavy duty hydraulic jacks so it can be moved today for extensive maintenance and modernization work. Nearly 20 years old, the crane will receive much needed equipment upgrades and a fresh coat of paint thanks to nearly $8.9 million in federal grant funding awarded in March of this year.

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, through the Maritime Administration is funding 100 percent of the eligible costs of this project along with a second phase of modernization work at Terminal 6 involving wharf improvements. The Port’s share of funds came from $100 million allocated to the Oregon Department of Transportation to support key transportation infrastructure projects, which includes freight mobility.

The crane rehabilitation project will add new motor controls to improve the crane’s reliability, improve its accuracy, and improve overload recognition. This will make troubleshooting electrical maintenance issues on the crane faster. Sections of the crane will also receive a protective coat of paint. The crane is being moved off of the dock temporarily to avoid disruption of regular business operations. This will be accomplished by sliding it into a storage yard using temporary rails. The move will take a full day to complete.

Cranes as large as the one being moved are called “post-Panamax” because they are large enough to handle container ships too wide to fit through the Panama Canal. Built in Korea by Hyundai Heavy Machinery, it was the Port’s first such crane when it arrived at Terminal 2 in 1990. No stranger to big moves, the giant was later relocated to Terminal 6 in 1995. Over the past two decades, the crane has lifted countless containers, supporting over 1,000 regional exporters and importers.

The Port currently has five Panamax and four post-Panamax cranes serving barges and container ships at Terminal 6. The two newest post-Panamax cranes arrived in 2006 and 2008 respectively, with acquisition supported by ConnectOregon funding approved by the Oregon state legislature. Operated by skilled longshore labor, each crane handles approximately 30 containers per hour. This particular heavy lift crane is rated for lifting 80 tons.

Terminal 6 is the only deep draft container terminal in Oregon and serves a large geographic area that includes Oregon, Southwest and Eastern Washington, and Idaho. The central location of Terminal 6 within the Pacific Northwest region, combined with its access to an inland barging system, reduces the regional use of truck and rail by regional businesses to transport container cargo to ocean vessels.

Phase 2 of the ARRA grant improvements at Terminal 6 will add seismic tiebacks, stormwater system upgrades, reconfigured power feeds and structural repairs to sheet piles on the docks. Design for these wharf improvements is underway, with construction tentatively scheduled for winter of 2010.

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Terms of the grant award require the Port to formally acknowledge that: a) the effort is/was sponsored by the Department of Transportation, (b) the content of the information does not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Administrator, and (c) that no official endorsement should be inferred.