Two of these cranes were destined for the APM Terminal facility at Hamptons Road, Virginia, USA, while the other two cranes and four RTGs were destined for a container terminal in Colombia. Bolted and welded to the deck of the vessel the 259-foot-tall cranes arrived fully assembled off Cape Henry in Virginia Beach in the early morning. It took the vessel about 4 hours to make its way into the Chesapeake Bay and down the Elizabeth River to the APM container terminal. Having arrived at the APM terminal it took two tugboats about half an hour to pivot the vessel parallel to the pier, before gently nudging it into place. As the vessel was on schedule it would take about a week to get the cranes off and on to the terminal. This process involved undoing the welds and bolts, lowering the ship so that it was level with the pier, then rolling the cranes, which are mounted on rail wheels, onto tracks on the terminal. After the cranes are put in placed it takes around three weeks to test and put the final touches on the cranes and the schedule showed that the cranes would be operational in the first week of March. These two container cranes would further strengthen the port’s infrastructure, as ports along the East Coast are positioning themselves for an anticipated increase in Asian container traffic once the expanded Panama Canal opens in three years time. This would also bring the number of cranes to the Virginia Container Terminals to a total of 22 container cranes all capable of handling the largest vessels operating on the Atlantic routes, and the APM Terminal will have 8 of the cranes on their facility. While APM Terminals purchased the two container cranes, the Port Authority and its operations affiliate, Virginia International Terminals, will operate the state-of-the-art facility as it signed a 20-year lease last summer with APM Terminals. The price of the cranes has not been released but neighbouring Norfolk International Terminals took delivery of three ‘smaller’ cranes back in 2008 at a cost of USD8 million each.
Accident
Exactly a week after the delivery of the cranes to the APM facility the massive, orange-hulled Zhen Hua 24 started to gently pulling away from the quay carrying the remaining two other container cranes and four RTGs, when an accident happened. One of the two cranes still aboard the vessel clipped the boom of one of the two new APM cranes on the quay, thereby twisting it. “It caused extensive damage to the crane and minor damage to the wharf,” according to a statement from Joe Dorto, President and CEO of Virginia International Terminals Inc, which operates the Port Authority’s facilities. As a result of the accident, only one berth was left usable at APM due to safety hazards. One vessel has been moved from APM to Portsmouth Marine Terminal. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident. Closer inspection showed that the collision buckled one of the four sets of rail wheels on which the crane sits, with one of them almost snapped off. As a result the crane became unstable and with 20-knot wind there was a real cause for concern that the crane could tip over into the Elizabeth River. These new 259-foot-tall cranes feature a boom length of 489 feet from front to back, weighing each 1,650 tonnes and first priority for the crew was to stabilise the crane in order for container operations at two of the three berths at the facility to continue. “Most of the vessels due this week at APM can be reasonably accommodated with only two berths,” Dorto said in his statement. “The crane can be repaired.”
Arrest
On 25th February the vessel was detained by the US Marshals Service after the Norfolk Federal Court issued an arrest following a law suit filed by Virginia Port Authority and its operating affiliate Virginia International Terminals Inc. The suit in Norfolk’s Federal Court seeks USD14.65 million in damages. “From the time that it’s under arrest, it belongs to the United States Marshals Service – until the courts give us further instruction to either release the ship or to turn it over to somebody else as a third-party custodian,” said Andy Mazerik, a supervisory deputy for the Marshals Service. “We won’t release it unless the judge tells us to.” The damaged APM crane is “inoperable,” preventing cargo operations from taking place at one of APM’s berths, according to the lawsuit. “As best as can be determined, the damaged crane will have to be dismantled and removed in order to permit cargo operations to resume at the affected berth,” the suit states. “It is reasonably estimated that it may take up to a year before the berth may be cleared and cargo operations resumed.” The damages are estimated to be USD1.2 million a month and total damages to be at least USD14.65 million. “Plaintiffs have, or will be, caused to divert cargo to other port facilities at great cost and expense, including, without limitation, costs of shifting vessels and additional labour and drayage charges,” the suit states. The warrant for the arrest of the Zhen Hua 24 states that the vessel could be “condemned and sold to pay the demands of the plaintiff.”
In such cases, in which a financial judgment is eventually made against a ship and its owner and the judgment isn’t paid, its sets in motion a series of events that in the worst cases ends in court. If the owner (ZPMC) can’t pay the money, it is not unusual to sell the ship and/or its cargo, if people don’t have legal claims to it. But the vast majority of all cases are settled way before then, because usually – when you have to sell a ship and its cargo – everybody loses money, including the customer in Colombia – which still may take legal action against ZPMC for loss of revenue, but that is another case.