B
Publish and Present
.jpg "Anna Dix, S.E. photo")
Anna Dix, S.E.
Principal
Liftech Consultants Inc.
Oakland, California
Arun Bhimani, S.E.
Principal, Chairman of the Board
Liftech Consultants Inc.
Oakland, California
Claude Gentil, P.E.
Project Manager
Port Everglades Department of Broward County
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
There are many seaports with severe aircraft clearance limits that need to accommodate ever-increasing ship sizes. A low profile container crane with a boom that shuttles in and out is sometimes required to meet these demands. However, low profile cranes to service current generation container vessels present unique design challenges for the cranes and infrastructure. A low profile crane has extreme changes in center of gravity due to the heavy shuttling boom, which results in very large wheel loads on the wharf.
This paper presents key considerations for the infrastructure design for large low profile cranes, such as the required crane girder and pile capacity, stowage issues, rail systems, gantry tracking systems, crane stop requirements, and electrical demands. The focus will be on the Broward County Port Everglades Department new crane girder and wharf upgrade project, which covers about 1 mi (1.6 km) of waterfront. This paper also presents the construction challenges associated with the project, such as phased construction and daily coordination with port tenants to avoid interruptions to the operations.