Engineering Blog

As the crane industry rallies around the theme for this year’s Global Lifting Awareness Day (GLAD) — ‘Not all lifting equipment is created equal’ — it’s worth reminding all stakeholders of the risks involved with short-sighted procurement.

Ship-to-shore container cranes are among the most iconic and essential machines in modern global trade, towering over ports as they efficiently transfer cargo between vessels and land. Here we discuss specialized terminology used to describe their components, movements, and operations.

Container cranes have several common structural and mechanical arrangements. Here we will discuss a few historical examples and the most common structural arrangements.

When people refer to a “ton,” they’re usually talking about a large unit of weight. Depending on the industry or location, that word can mean slightly different things. The three most common definitions are the long ton, the short ton, and the metric ton. Each has its own historical background and is still used in different parts of the world today.

Casper, Phillips & Associates Inc. (CP&A) has witnessed commissioning of the first two Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (ZPMC) ship-to-shore container cranes — part of an order for six — at GCT Deltaport, Canada.

Containerization has been a pivotal factor in enabling globalization. It continues to play an integral role in the global supply chain. However, it also introduces complexity into the procurement process due to regional design practices. Across the globe, environmental hazards such as wind loads are defined using region-specific methodologies.

Casper, Phillips & Associates Inc. (CP&A) is reaching out to trainee and experienced structural engineers who might not have considered what the crane industry has to offer.

Casper, Phillips & Associates Inc. (CP&A) has advised the crane industry not to overlook heat straightening as an efficient method of repair when structural beams or columns are damaged. Heat straightening, when considered, is often found to be the ideal solution when a beam or column has plastically deformed — but has not cracked. It has been used to straighten bent ship-to-shore container crane booms, where a failure of the boom up limit switch caused the boom to bend. He

Casper, Phillips & Associates Inc. (CP&A) has delivered a presentation to port authorities titled, ‘Peer Review of Container Cranes’.

Casper, Phillips & Associates Inc. (CP&A) is expecting demand to retrofit its crane base anti-seismic isolation system (BASIS) on ship-to-shore container cranes at the quayside. BASIS Seismic System BASIS is built on NLTHA and can protect the crane main structure from damage even in contingency level earthquakes. BASIS has been successfully installed and commissioned on new ship-to-shore container cranes in major seismic zones, but can be used for other gantry cranes, such as

Connection detailing is an underrated art form, especially on cranes, writes Richard Phillips, mechanical engineer at Casper, Phillips & Ass

Generally, the faster a crane component operates, the more important alignment is, but there’s more to understand about this important subject than that, writes Richard Phillips, mechanical engineer at Casper, Phillips & Associates Inc.

Terminal operators and owners are increasingly looking to increase the size of their quayside container cranes, which presents a series of challenges that must be overcome, such as coping with increased wheel loads, says Richard Phillips, mechanical engineer, Casper, Phillips & Associates Inc. (CP&A).

Casper, Phillips & Associates Inc. (CP&A) has completed procurement and design review services related to 10 rail-mounted gantry (RMG) cranes, manufactured by Konecranes, for Georgia Ports Authority’s (GPA) Mason Mega Rail project in Savannah.

Casper, Phillips & Associates Inc. (CP&A) was represented on a panel that took questions from an American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) delegation recently.

There is a trend for ports to push their container cranes harder for longer, which can lead to cracks and other fatigue-related issues, says Richard Phillips, mechanical engineer, Casper, Phillips & Associates Inc. (CP&A).

Casper, Phillips & Associates Inc. (CP&A) has upgraded its proprietary crane analysis software, used for pre- and post-processing during finite element analysis of cranes.

Casper, Phillips & Associates Inc. (CPA) recently completed remediation of three 40 metric ton capacity rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGs).

A revolutionary seismic isolation system—provided by Casper, Phillips & Associates Inc. (CP&A)—has been installed on two quayside container cranes for the first time.