FOLLOWUP: Terminal 5’s new cranes are on their way

| Port of Seattle | West Seattle news

That’s a screengrab of the tracking map launched by the Northwest Seaport Alliance now that the four big new cranes for Terminal 5 are on their way to West Seattle. We reported two weeks ago that they were about to start their cross-Pacific voyage, and this afternoon, the NWSA announced the journey is under way. The super-post-Panamax cranes, 316 feet tall with 240-foot outreach booms, left Shanghai on Sunday aboard Zhen Hua 36, a vessel owned and operated by the cranes’ manufacturer, ZPMC. The trip is expected to take about a month and will be tracked here; the cranes belong to SSA Marine, first tenant for the modernized Terminal 5, scheduled to get back to regular cargo operations early next year.]

Insertname May 24, 2021 (5:42 pm)

So cool. It’s amazing that such large cranes come from as far away as they do. I’d love to see a time-lapse video of what that journey is like.

sbre May 24, 2021 (6:20 pm)

Too bad the cranes couldn’t be made with steel made in the USA, or our own backyard, and constructed by US citizens!Would have also resulted in a whole lot less fuel needed for transport to our neighborhood.

WSB May 24, 2021 (7:39 pm)

Unfortunately, the port says, nobody in the U.S. does this any more.
Scubafrog May 25, 2021 (6:48 am)

BINGO. More US jobs, US Steel, US MADE. It’s hard to compete with a nation that makes things at 1/10000th the cost and labor – even though ethically, it’s wrong in many facets.
Tyr1001 May 25, 2021 (7:52 am)

Steel from the industries biggest competitor towering over an American steel mill does seem like a real kick in the pants. . .

HS May 24, 2021 (6:31 pm)

Well that is just cool.

Chuck May 24, 2021 (8:02 pm)

hope it doesn’t crumble like everything else they make and I agree usa could have made it better and it would have last a lot longer then Chinese made products. I can’t believe people talk about pollution so much but yet but form a country that pollutes more then any country then pollutes more by bringing them over on a boat. I though Americans were smarter to buy things that were built to last. Boycott china

WSB May 24, 2021 (9:13 pm)

The other main optioh seems to be a company in Finland, which would be an even longer trip. From what I’ve found so far, the U.S. hasn’t made port cranes since the ’70s.
- Eddie May 25, 2021 (7:43 am)
  
  Why should we make port cranes in the US, we hardly build ships here anymore. (Intentionally snarky. It irritates me that we as a country have let so many industries and jobs slip away. Good luck next time (and there will be a next time and a next time and a time after that…) that the supply chain gets disrupted.)
wscommuter May 24, 2021 (10:00 pm)

While I would readily agree that China presents the most serious foreign policy problem – on multiple levels – facing the U.S. and western democracies, your ignorant statement that all Chinese-made products “crumble” is really unfortunate. There are certainly some Chinese products that are systemically inferior and poorly made. There are also many Chinese products which are first-rate. We would be well-advised to pay attention to those areas where China’s economic production is every bit as good as ours; in some cases better. Dealing in facts rather than ignorance is what will be required as a starting point to compete against China’s totalitarian dictatorship over the next few decades.
- Tyr1001 May 25, 2021 (8:01 am)
  
  In this case, chuck is closer to the truth albeit a bit confrontational. China has been overproducing steel on a huge scale, flooding the global market and making it very challenging for domestic producers to compete. This is around the world, not just the US. On top of the overproduction, the steel they export is of generally lower quality based on dimensional fidelity and chemistry quality control. At a glance it looks no different than the steel being made half a block down the road from the terminal but it certainly is

Ant May 24, 2021 (10:18 pm)

If cranes and other bygone purchases were so important and attractive business opportunities US firms would by lining up to make them. But they aren’t so calm down. You should be more focused on the real issue which is technology and China’s serious capabilities in creating, stealing, scaling, and manufacturing IP all while we Americans are worried about a silly crane.

Mark47n May 25, 2021 (4:56 am)

The reason no one in the US isn’t making these cranes is because they are often undercut and procurement processes require low bidder for purchase. So, building our own infrastructure, which is a part of national security (you know, building things that we need)is kind of important. We outsourced the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to Korea, one of the bridges in the San Francisco area was built in China-and required extensive retrofitting due to quality of steel-and there’s more. It’s not that no one can, or would if they can make some money on it, it’s that they can’t compete with China’s slave labor.
David Kerlick May 25, 2021 (6:45 am)

The Wall Street gambler capitalists have found that more money can be made in market manipulation than in manufacturing which can be exported to cheap labor dictatorships without pesky unions or human rights.
Scubafrog May 25, 2021 (6:53 am)

There are ethical reasons why doing business with an authoritarian, genocidal country with mass right’s abuses like China is wrong. Moreover their wages are abusive to its citizens, and the relations betwixt the US/China aren’t friendly. China’s going to be the next Economic Superpower (allowing China to further persecute and execute dissidents), and America’s aiding them to that end.
candrewb May 25, 2021 (8:11 am)

When China and the rest of Asia decide they’d rather keep their exports than trade them for our money created out of thin air and we’re all in soup lines, then we’ll likely start reshoring our manufacturing.

WSnative May 25, 2021 (6:51 am)

Should have bought them from Finland. They aren’t stealing our intellectual property, creating pandemics and practicing genocide. Boycott China.

JonnyQuest May 25, 2021 (8:56 am)

Before casting stones, you might want to check out the COO labels on everything in your possession. Then if you have a foot to stand on, toss away!