Ship carrying four huge new NWSA container cranes to arrive Tuesday in Tacoma

A huge ship carrying four super-post-Panamax container cranes is scheduled to travel through Puget Sound March 5 to Tacoma.

Among the largest on the West Coast, these cranes are identical to the four that arrived in the Pacific Northwest last year.

Puget Sound Pilots are scheduled to board the Zhen Hua 31, a 771-foot-long heavy-lift ship, Tuesday morning in Port Angeles and begin the journey to Tacoma. Here are possible viewpoints along Puget Sound. Note: We will not be able to provide access to secure marine terminals.

Track the ship’s progress.

The ship will sit at anchor in Commencement Bay for a day or two before delivering the cranes to Husky Terminal at the northwest end of the Blair Waterway.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance ordered eight new super-post-Panamax cranes from Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co. Ltd (ZPMC) in China through a competitive bid process. No container cranes currently are manufactured in the U.S.

Learn more about the cranes in this short video.

ZPMC is the largest heavy-duty equipment manufacturer in the world and delivers more than 200 cranes every year around the world, including many seaports in the U.S.

The cranes will be installed at Husky Terminal, which underwent about $250 million in terminal improvements on Tacoma’s General Central Peninsula.

Upgrades included strengthening and realigning a berth and adding eight new super-post-Panamax cranes capable of serving two 18,000-TEU container ships at the same time. Learn more about the project.

The new cranes will have an outreach of 24 containers and a lift height of 165 feet above the pier deck.