Zhen Hua 28 Ship Arrives In Commencement Bay With Giant Cranes

Have you seen the huge ship in Commencement Bay near Tacoma?

And we mean HUGE! This ship is 761 feet long. That is over 2 ½ football fields!

The ship is named Zhen Hua 28 and it is carrying four of the tallest cranes that any port on the west coast will have in operation and they are going to their new home in Tacoma.

The cranes are part of a 250 million dollar project at the Port of Tacoma. The four cranes are the first to arrive with another four to arrive next year.

The cranes were built in China by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industeries Co. LTD. They build and deliver over 200 cranes a year. They are the largest heavy equipment manufacturer in the world.

Some of the parts were also made in Europe. At this time no container cranes are manufactured in the U.S.

Fun Fact: The cranes are 295 feet tall and when they have their booms raised they are 434 feet tall.

Video of the Cranes in Commencement Bay

The cranes are part of an update to the Husky Terminal. Additional updates will be strengthening and realigning a berth. When the update is completed the terminal will be able to service two 18,000 TEU container ships simultaneously.

Just what ARE TEU’s? Good question. TEU stands for twenty-foot equivalent units. That means a 18,000 TEU ship could hold 18,000 20ft containers or a mixture of 20ft and 40ft containers. That’s a lot of containers!

The largest container ships can hold over 21,000 TEU. The new cranes will work on ships of that size as well.

The cranes left China in January and made their way to Tacoma arriving on Friday February 23rd. The cranes will be unloaded in the next few days.