NEW HOME: Two cranes on board Industrial Echo prepare to lift the second container crane being moved to Vietnam. PHOTO/DUNCAN BROWN
NEW HOME: Two cranes on board Industrial Echo prepare to lift the second container crane being moved to Vietnam. PHOTO/DUNCAN BROWN
The machines which marked a new era for Napier Port nearly 30 years ago have found a new home.
Yesterday the port's very first cranes were loaded onto a heavy lift ship, the Industrial Echo, ahead of a 17-day journey to Vietnam, where they have been sold.
The two cranes'arrival at the port - the first in 1990 - marked its change to a container terminal. In the years since Napier Port has grown to be New Zealand's fourth largest container port.
Several years ago they were replaced and have been in storage since.
A port spokeswoman said while it was great they were finally moving on, "there is a level of sentimental value attached with many of the senior crane operators learning their craft on the Gottwald cranes".
Crane operators now train on New Zealand's only mobile harbour crane simulator.
Yesterday the loading of the first crane, the MT09, went smoothly. However the whopping 370 tonne weight of the second crane meant there were some delays.
The Industrial Echo uses ballast water piped around the ship to counter-balance the weight of the crane initially - a process which takes hours of delicate rebalancing and slow lifting.
