Visited a port yard in Savannah last week and saw something wild on a barge crane

I was checking out the Port of Savannah for a job and watched a luffing jib tower crane swing a 40 ton container without any tagline crew. The operator just used the main hoist and boom angle to keep it dead steady. Has anyone else run a pick that clean without ground guys on a tight spot like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

emeryfox13d ago

Oh come on, a 40 ton box with no ground crew and that kind of precision is rare even for the best operators. You're basically saying the guy ran a perfect blind pick solely on boom feel and luffing control, which most guys I've watched would struggle to pull off in a tight corner. I've seen too many close calls with containers swinging wild to buy that it was that clean without someone on the ground spotting.

leo_carr1313d ago

Scoff all you want but I've seen a guy land a 40 footer on a pickup truck bed using nothing but the boom droop and a prayer. It looked like a magic trick but the dude just knew his machine like the back of his hand. Most operators couldn't do it on a dare but that doesn't mean it's impossible. You're basically saying it can't happen just because you've watched some knuckleheads bounce boxes around.

blake_smith13d ago

Bet you that operator has been running that same crane for years and knows exactly how it breathes. A lot of those older luffing jibs have a sweet spot where the boom angle and main hoist work together to cancel out the swing on a box that size. I've watched guys in Norfolk do similar things with 50 foot containers, just letting the boom drift down a touch to kill the momentum as they set it down. It's not that common but it's not impossible either, especially on a barge where the water is flat.