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Cargo Cranes Continue Their Journey to The Port of Virginia

[ January 31, 2018   //   ]

A ship laden with the first bundle of six rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGs) is set to arrive at The Port of Virginia Feb. 1. The Happy Buccaneer’s journey started Jan. 12 and its progress can be tracked by going to www.marinetraffic.com and entering Happy Buccaneer into the search field.

These cranes are the centerpiece(s) of the port’s $695 million expansion. In November 2016, the port finalized a $217 million contract with Konecranes for that company to build and deliver 86 RMGs. The contract is the largest one-time order for RMGs in industry history.

Following this first delivery of RMGs to Virginia International Gateway (VIG), subsequent deliveries will take place and the new container stacks will go into service at intervals through November. In total, 26 new RMGs will be delivered to VIG and the remaining 60 will go to Norfolk International Terminals. The expansion at VIG  will be complete by spring 2019.

In February 2017, construction on the $320 million VIG expansion got underway. The work includes adding 13 new container stacks to the container stack yard – supported by 26 new RMGs – lengthening the berth, four new ship-to-shore container cranes, doubling the size of the rail operation and adding new lanes to the truck gate. Ultimately, the work will increase the annual throughput capacity of the terminal to 1.2 million containers

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