Trapac container cranes arriving at Oakland on the Dock Express 10

Project Summary

In June 1999, the Dock Express 10 delivered one each 4-th generation container crane to the Trans Pacific Container Service Corporation terminals in Oakland, CA and Los Angeles, CA, respectively.  The cranes were built by Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. in Japan and Dockwise Shipping BV was contracted for the delivery.  These cranes were transported together, fully erect, with the boom of the aft Oakland crane supported on the APEX of the forward Los Angeles crane.

Argonautics Marine Engineering was hired to supervise the offloading operations.  The Oakland crane was offloaded, using the so-called "Miami" method offloading. After removal of the boom supports and tie downs, the 1,000 t crane was skidded aft over the ship's outriggers until the crane's landside sill beam could be lowered onto a set of jack boogies, which moved the crane further over the quay. Once in position, the waterside sill beam was temporarily supported on wood blocks.   The landside was then jacked up for installation of the landside trucks. The ship was then moved forward, the waterside was picked up so that the waterside trucks could be rotated after which the waterside trucks were lowered onto the rails.  After reloading of the offloading equipment, the Dock Express 10 sailed to Los Angeles for delivery of the second crane.

Because of the height restriction of the Vincent Thomas bridge, the crane was stowed inside the cargo hold as low as possible.  The bridge passage even required this hold to be partly filled with ballast water to increase the vessel's draft as much as possible.  The 1,000 t crane was offloaded by skidding it aft over the outriggers and landing it on wood blocks on the quay.  In two steps, the crane was lifted higher after which the trucks could be installed.

Scope of Work

The project scope included:

• Coordination of activities during offloading;

• Liaison with ship crew, client and its subcontractor,  Bickerton Ironworks;

• In Oakland: setting-up of rail track and jack boogies as per the Dockwise Offloading Procedure;

• In Los Angeles: setting-up of wood blocks as per the Dockwise Offloading Procedure;

• Provision of on-site supervision during actual discharge operations.

Project Photographs

Once all preparations were completed, the Dock Express 10 is maneuvering into a stern to position to offload the Oakland crane.	The landside sill beam of the Oakland crane is set down on the self-propelled jack boogies.	The sheaves on top of the APEX cleared the Vincent Thomas bridge with about 2 feet clearance.	The Los Angeles crane is temporary landed onto wood blocks before raising it for installation of the trucks.