Cargo Handling Equipment

Cargo Handling Equipment: Sustainability is Key

When it comes to cargo handling equipment, sustainability is the apparent path forward for West Coast seaports, both in terms of environmental innovation and funding. From yard tractors and rubber-tired gantry cranes to ship-to-shore and roll-on/roll-off cranes, the next generation of equipment arriving at West Coast marine terminals is capable of operating on electric charging and/or alternative fuel sources. But funding such innovation will be key to how well terminals move forward on cargo-handling equipment. That’s why port officials have been particularly bullish in going after that funding at the state and federal level to leverage private sector investment. “There…

Cargo handling bridges the divide between tradition and technological innovation as aging equipment is updated and new options are being added. Much of the time, the focus of maritime industry headlines is ships, which can leave equipment and logistics as an afterthought. Yet these machines and the technology used within them make up a vital part of the maritime shipping process—container-handling equipment or cargo-handling equipment (CHE). CHE generally consists of the equipment used to move, load, and unload cargo and containers between ships and the dock. As described in the reference Ship Construction (7th Edition), this equipment went largely unchanged…