“Expanding our capabilities means we are able to grow along with our customers, and adjust to changes in the logistics marketplace, such as increasing vessel sizes,” said GPA Chief Operating Officer Ed McCarthy.

Designed by Konecranes of Finland, these enormous cranes can work the largest ships calling on the U.S. East Coast.

Garden City Terminal will add another crane every two weeks until late April, bringing the total number to 26 this year: 20 Neo-Panamax cranes and six Post-Panamax cranes. Port officials said another four Neo-Panamax cranes are on order and will be commissioned in 2018.

The growing crane fleet, working over nearly 10,000 contiguous feet of dock, will be able to handle more than 1,000 container moves per hour when all 30 cranes are in place.

“The improvements we’re making to our terminal infrastructure demonstrate the GPA’s commitment to expand capacity, providing more opportunities for growth and greater flexibility to meet customer needs,” McCarthy said.

On Monday, Executive Director Griff Lynch reported to the GPA Board 14.4 percent growth in containerized trade for February.

Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) successfully towed the BBC SHANGHAI, a 101 metre long general cargo vessel with 11 crew members on board, safely into the Port of East London on Friday, 17 March, after she suffered engine failure en route from Durban to Lagos.

One of TNPA’s powerful new tugs – SHASA – which has a bollard pull of 70 tonnes, sailed from East London with a crew of 10 on Thursday to assist in towing the stricken vessel, which was drifting 35 kms of Mazeppa Bay on the Wild Coast.

SHASA is usually based at the Port of Ngqura and was due to sail back on Friday morning following her annual maintenance lay-up in the East London dry dock. However she was rerouted to tow BBC SHANGHAI to East London.

Two other East London tugs, IMPUNZI and UMTHWALUME, both with a 43 ton bollard pull, and the pilot boat, TRISTAN TERN, with an 18 ton bollard pull, helped guide the stricken vessel safely into port.

BBC SHANGHAI will undergo repairs in East London before continuing her voyage.

“The salvage of this vessel is testament to the capability of our marine operations, both in terms of the fleet and the skill of our teams who worked together seamlessly with all role players,” explained East London Port Manager, Jacqueline Brown. “Well done to TNPA Tug Master, Siegfried Duwe, and his crew for successfully completing the towing of the BBC SHANGHAI cargo vessel and to all those involved in the operation.”

This is the second incident in less than five weeks where TNPA, in collaboration with SAMSA and other bodies, has salvaged vessels.

In mid-February a joint effort undertaken by a comprehensive Disaster Management team at the Port of Ngqura, saved the APL AUSTRIA and minimised the environmental impact, after the container vessel caught fire 30 nautical miles South-west of Cape St Francis. She was towed into the Port of Nqura where the fire was extinguished.

“The newer more powerful tugs, such as the SHASA, are proving their worth. The tugs have Voith Schneider propulsion which makes them highly manoeuvrable and able to change direction and thrust almost instantaneously while guiding large vessels safely into port.
“During the recovery of the APL AUSTRIA they were instrumental in controlling the fire by blanket spraying the vessel and providing boundary cooling to containers at anchorage as the vessel docked,” added Ngqura Port Manager, Mpumi Dweba-Kwetana.
TNPA also has a R1.4 billion tug building contract underway in Durban to build nine new tugs, five of which have already been delivered. The new fleet boasts 31 metre long tugs with a 70 ton bollard pull. They also feature Voith Schneider propulsion.

GPA moved 2.94 million tons across all docks last month – a 10 percent increase over February 2016, and second only to January’s 3.01 million tons.

Container tonnage was a leading factor in the growth, expanding by 14.4 percent (314,832 tons) to more than 2.5 million tons for the month. Measured in twenty-foot equivalent units, containerized trade grew by 7.7 percent to reach 330,539 TEUs.

“Ocean carriers have recognized the Port of Savannah as the must-call port to serve the Southeastern U.S.,” GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch reported to the Authority Board Monday. “With the coming realignment of the shipping alliances in April, Savannah will offer more container services than any other East Coast or Gulf port, at 35 weekly vessel calls.”

Lynch said Savannah’s Ocean Terminal also achieved significant growth in February, with a 9.2 percent increase in breakbulk cargo for the month, led by linerboard, iron and steel, and autos.

“A 38 percent increase in iron and steel is a good leading indicator of future growth in construction, as well as automobile and other manufacturing,” he said.

Additionally, the ports chief noted that this week Garden City Terminal in Savannah will commission a new Neo-Panamax ship-to-shore crane, with three more set to come online by mid-April. A separate, $45.3 million order will bring four more cranes to the terminal in 2018, for a total of 30.

These cranes are necessary to serve the larger vessels calling on Savannah. In the six months prior to the late June 2016 opening of the expanded Panama Canal, Garden City Terminal had hosted no vessels with a capacity of 10,000 or more TEUs. From July through December 2016, the Port of Savannah received 31 calls from 10,000+ TEU vessels – matched only by Norfolk and New York-New Jersey on the U.S. East Coast.

“As our business expands, we are investing in the infrastructure that supports that growth so that we can continue to fulfill our mission of supporting American exports and bringing new industry to Georgia,” said GPA Board Chairman Jimmy Allgood.

In other business, the GPA Board approved a power grid upgrade to provide greater resiliency and capacity for electric-powered equipment at Garden City Terminal. Chief Operating Officer Ed McCarthy said the Port of Savannah’s continuing shift away from diesel saves the authority millions of dollars annually in energy costs and avoids tons of diesel emissions.