The arrival at Port Freeport of two post-Panamax cranes signals a new era of savings for petrochemical interests and other shippers on the Texas Gulf coast.
Heavylift vessel Zhen Hua 28, carrying two post-Panamax cranes, enters the channel at Port Freeport, Texas, on July 19th.
Heavylift vessel Zhen Hua 28, carrying two post-Panamax cranes, enters the channel at Port Freeport, Texas, on July 19th.
“It certainly puts us on a new strategic direction,” Port Freeport’s executive port director and chief executive officer, Glenn A. Carlson, told the American Journal of Transportation upon the July 19 arrival from China of the big gantries. “It’s a very exciting opportunity. It’s definitely a big step forward for us.” Carlson said shippers can expect to reap benefits in at least two ways. One way is in drayage savings, he said. It costs between $325 and $375 to truck a container from a petrochemical plant in the Freeport area some 60 miles north to Houston port facilities. But the dray from such plants to Port Freeport’s Velasco Terminal, where the cranes are slated to be in operation within four to six weeks of their arrival, is anticipated to cost between $50 and $75. In addition, thanks to over-the-road permitting on a designated heavylift corridor for local moves of overweight containers in the vicinity of Port Freeport, shippers are to be able to pack 56,000 pounds of product in a 40-foot container being exported from Port Freeport as opposed to having to abide by the 45,000-pound limit for the dray to Houston. The weight-related savings could be as much as $600 per container, according to Carlson. The petrochemical industry is in the midst of investing some $25 billion in plant expansions in the Freeport area. Exports include various polymer resins, such as polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, compounds and polypropylene thermoplastics. “The cranes are a key part of the strong commitment by Port Freeport and its commissioners to continue to invest in the terminal, which continues to support the petrochemical industry in this region,” Carlson said. Port Freeport also saw savings in acquiring the two 100-gauge cranes. Although he declined to divulge the purchase price of the gantries, Carlson said the port saved millions of dollars per unit and significantly reduced delivery time by buying the assignment of cranes for which an ocean carrier had previously contracted. The cranes were fabricated by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., or ZPMC, the world’s largest manufacturer of cranes and steel structures, and made a 90-day journey to Freeport, including a stop to discharge other units at Veracruz, Mexico. Port Freeport is in the process of finalizing an operating agreement with an undisclosed major ocean carrier for regular calls at the port, which is situated just 3 miles from Gulf deep waters. “It allows us to attract new services to Freeport, because now we have the cranes to work vessels in a more timely and efficient manner,” he said, noting that the units are designed to reach across 18 containers. Furthermore, Carlson said, Port Freeport is working with several companies to establish warehouse packaging facilities in Freeport so that local firms won’t have to rail export materials to Houston for packaging.