Gov. Rick Scott was at Port Tampa Bay today to unveil two huge cranes that will allow port workers to unload cargo from larger ships going through the newly-widened Panama Canal.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in front of the new gantries

Scott and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio pushed a ceremonial button that activated a pair of towering gantries at Tampa’s port. The 30-story cranes are part of a $24 million effort by the state and the port to accommodate larger ships coming from the Panama Canal.

“The Panama Canal has done their expansion, so we have these two cranes that are going to allow us to do post-Panamax ships,” Scott said. “But the most important thing, it’s going to allow these people up here and other people around the state get great jobs.”

Scott says since he’s been governor, the state has invested more than $1 billion in the state’s ports. He says there’s 680,000 jobs tied to Florida’s ports.

Local port officials hope the $24 million investment in these new cranes, which are used to unload and load containers from docked barges, will lure new global container business to Tampa through the recently expanded Panama Canal.

The cranes weigh 1,600 tons each and are 15 stories taller than the three 42-year-old gantry cranes used previously at the port. With a height of more than 300 feet and a reach of 174 feet, the new cranes will let the port handle ships of up nearly twice the size of the largest ships that could be accommodated by the port’s old cranes.

The cranes were built by ZPMC, in Shanghai, China, one of the largest equipment manufacturing companies in the world. The cranes were shipped from Shanghai by boat in January and arrived in Tampa in April.

Port Tampa Bay’s new gantry cranes, built in China, are more than 300 feet tall with a reach of 174 feet. Officials hope the cranes lure the wider container ships that travel through the recently expanded Panama Canal.


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