L.A. gantry cranes head to Guam port

Three gantry cranes bound for the commercial port of Guam departed Los Angeles Harbor on Sunday, making a mid-day threading of the Vincent Thomas Bridge before heading for open ocean.

   Jones Act carriers Matson Navigation and Horizon Lines, which deliver a combined 80 percent of the containerized goods to Guam, purchased the used cranes from the Port of Los Angeles last year to install them at the Guam port. The two carriers reportedly grew concerned about the Guam port authority’s faltering process to obtain new cranes and proposed to Guam officials in late 2007 to donate the gantry cranes to the island port. The two lines proposed spending $12 million to $15 million to purchase, refurbish and install the three cranes at the Guam port. In return the two carriers asked the Guam port authority to either reduce or abate the two carrier’s port user fees to offset the total costs for the cranes.

   The PAG operates two nearly 30-year-old gantry cranes at the island’s port. The carriers anticipate the cranes will be needed when the U.S. military begins shifting its operations on Okinawa, Japan to Guam in July 2010. Cargo volumes through the Guam port during and after the transfer are expected to rise by as much as six times.

Source: American Shipper