WASHINGTON: Five new electric rubber-tired gantry cranes arrived August 8 at the Port of Savannah, bringing the current number of RTGs on Garden City Terminal to 146, more than any other terminal in the country.
The towering RTGs are designed to roll above the stacks, moving and positioning containers for the most efficient operations. Arriving fully assembled from Poland, the electric RTGs made by KONECRANES are already working the docks at Garden City Terminal, another testament to GPA’s legacy of environmental sustainability. Considered the workhorse of the container handling industry, RTGs have been a staple at ports worldwide for nearly half a century. But they used a tremendous amount of diesel fuel and created more diesel emissions.
Almost five years ago, Georgia Ports assembled a team of experts to find a way to convert the cranes from diesel to electric, something no other port had been able to do without significant disruption in operations. The GPA team created a hybrid crane that worked on both diesel and electric, eliminating the need for downtime during the conversion process. As a result, GPA became the first port in the country to go from diesel to electric power, investing $17.5 million to bring the first 45 electric RTGs online.
Over the next 10 years, the entire fleet of nearly 200 RTGs will have electric power capability. “This milestone project increases capacity and productivity in an environmentally responsible way,” said port executive director Griff Lynch. “The electric RTGs use 95 percent less diesel fuel than conventional RTGs, with corresponding reduced diesel emissions for improved local air quality.”
