Business Is Booming: Port Of Baltimore Gets Much-Needed Cranes
BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- The Port of Baltimore has received more cranes to handle the influx of increased deliveries at the Port.
The port has been breaking records for business and the new cranes will help with the high demand.
A cargo ship has been staged to unload six new portable yard cranes for the next few days starting Tuesday.
The massive steel frames can roll under their own power and operate from a control cab suspended from above.
Their purpose is to "get trucks in and out of the port quickly," according to port spokesman Richard Scher.
The cranes move cargo containers stacked in storage lots onto trucks for shipment. The port already has 16 of the cranes. Another six are needed because business is booming.
"This infrastructure is needed to accommodate the significant container growth we've had at the port the last 18 months," Scher said.
The growth is spurred by a new generation of supersized ships that carry millions of tons of cargo. The port saw an 11 percent increase last year, with more increases expected to come. All of which eats up storage space. The faster containers can move out, the more can move in.
Keeping up with demand also insures jobs.
"The port generates 13,000 direct jobs and nearly 130,000 jobs in Maryland," Scher added.
Set against the backdrop of acres of containers, the six new cranes already have their work cut out for them.
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