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RESERVE – The Port of South Louisiana is America’s largest tonnage sea gateway for international trade. With increased throughput tonnage and the need for efficiency, the Port of South Louisiana saw the need for new, updated equipment at its Globalplex facility in Reserve.

The Port recently ordered two Konecranes Gottwald Model 6 Portal Harbor Cranes to increase capacity for bulk materials and add flexibility for future handling of containers and project cargo. The Konecranes will be providing the required high-performance and robust port equipment that would handle the large cargo volume and years of continuous use.

With commissioning planned for September 2021, the cranes will be utilized at the Port’s public Globalplex facility. The purchase of the $12.72 million cranes was funded in part (90 percent) by $11.448 million from LA DOTD’s Port Construction and Development Priority Program.

“Acquiring these cranes is an important addition to our port,” said Paul Aucoin, Executive Director for the Port of South Louisiana. “The Port of South Louisiana is committed to maintaining and expanding our infrastructure capabilities to keep the port competitive and efficient in the global market.”

The two new cranes, Konecranes Gottwald Portal Harbor Cranes in the G HSK 6548 B four-rope variant, have a maximum lifting capacity of 125 tons. These flexible machines offer the potential for continuous-duty bulk material handling or heavy project cargo, but they’ll also include a boom-top cable reel to operate electric spreaders for container handling. Included are smart crane features such as cargo-hold totalizer, hoisting-height and working-range assistants. Further, web reporting and remote desktop control utilize the latest technology that add ergonomics, efficiency and safety to crane operation and performance. Mounted on customized portals, the cranes will use existing rail infrastructure. In order to minimize downtime, the order includes a large spare part package so that maintenance and some repairs can be completed quickly by their own technicians.

“We’ve taken the time to build a good customer relationship, and you can see the results,” says Alan Garcia, sales manager, Americas, Konecranes Port Solutions. “After two years working on this challenging project, it’s very satisfying to achieve what we set out to do. We hope to continue working with both Globalplex and Associated Terminals long into the future.”

The Port of South Louisiana is a 54-mile port district on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, encompassing the parishes of St. Charles, St. John and St. James.

For more information about this particular topic or about the Port of South Louisiana, contact Alexandra “Alex” Hernández, public information officer, at (985) 652-9278 or ahernandez@portsl.com.