Cargo Operations: Baltimore, Oakland

Baltimore: Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics Signs 30-year Contract with Maryland Port Administration

Port of Baltimore’s top roll on/roll off customer, Norway-based Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL), has entered into a new 30-year contract with the Maryland Port Administration (MPA). Ro/Ro cargo ranges from automobiles and pickup trucks to heavy farm and construction machinery such as harvesters, combines, excavators and dump trucks. The new partnership guarantees that WWL will continue serving Baltimore through 2045.

The new contract replaces an existing 20-year deal between WWL and the MPA that was due to expire in 2021. It also supports nearly 1,000 direct jobs at the Port of Baltimore and 1,500 indirect jobs generated by WWL business in the state.

WWL has played a large role in Baltimore’s emergence as a leading ro/ro port. In 2014, the Port of Baltimore handled a record 792,000 cars and more than 861,000 tons of Ro/Ro cargo.

"Baltimore is WWL’s largest port of business in the Americas, and a gateway to key markets in the U.S. and around the globe," said Raymond Fitzgerald, president – Atlantic at Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics. "WWL-operated ships call Baltimore nearly 150 times each year to accommodate the needs of our customers—some of the largest and top vehicles, heavy machinery and Ro/Ro shippers in the world."

Port of Oakland Lifting Four Giant Cranes 26 feet Higher

The Port of Oakland is raising the height of four ship-to-shore container cranes by 26 feet to enable them to serve ultra large container ships. The $13.95 million project is scheduled to begin in April. 
 
"The big ships come here on a regular basis," said Port of Oakland Maritime Director John Driscoll. "This equips us to take on more of them as shipping lines continue to scale up."

Located at Oakland International Container Terminal, the cranes will tower 141 feet above the dock, giving them the height need to work ships of up to 14,000 TEUs capacity.

The four 13-year-old cranes, each weighing 1,380 tons, will be supported by jacking frames while their legs are cut away and replaced with new, longer ones. The legs will be fabricated by the Chinese manufacturer of the cranes. The port said it would take 10 to 12 weeks to raise each crane.

The port’s cranes can lift as much as 65 tons of containerized cargo. Once heightened, they will be able to reach three container rows higher on a ship.

The port’s five marine terminals are now served by 33 ship-to-shore container handling gantry cranes, eight of which are tall enough to reach atop the biggest ships that call Oakland. The port says it is heightening additional cranes with an eye toward the future of global trade as more ocean carriers deploy big ships.