The deal includes the delivery of eight cranes in total.
The 1,000t cargo-transferring horizontal girder moves up and down. Port operator Virginia International Terminals (VIT) said if the elevating mechanism proved inefficient or too expensive to maintain, the crane could be locked at its tallest point and used like the other cranes.
The crane’s boom is said to be long enough to stretch across ships 26 containers wide. It is designed to unload cargo from five heights from 20 to 40m. It takes about 20 minutes to move the girder between levels.
The crane can handle 65t – each 2,240lbs – of containerised cargo, for a total of 145,600lbs. The crane can also lift loads not in containers of up to 80t.
Meanwhile, a dozen eight-wheel straddle carrier mobile cranes have arrived at the Norfolk International Terminal. The port will receive a further 18 identical cranes, which are at varying stages of assembly, in the coming weeks. The cranes, which have a capacity of 45t, are designed to straddle containers stacked three high, and cost the port $24m in total.
ZPMC has also delivered the first of three ship-to-shore cranes to South Korean terminal operator Pusan Newport Co.
The company has ordered ZPMC 26 cranes. Nine cranes will arrive before the scheduled facility opening date in January next year. Delivery of the remaining cranes will continue throughout the development of the facility.
The cranes can accommodate pass-through of nine lanes of truck traffic, and have a reach of 22 rows of containers. The lifting capacity is 65t under the twin lift spreader.
The terminal is scheduled to open its first three berths in January 2006. The second trio of berths will be operational in 2007 and an additional three berths in 2009.
The overall terminal has an estimated annual handling capacity of 5.5m TEU (20ft equivalent units).
