A new 300-ton crane—a P&H 5300-R — was dedicated by the Port of Milwaukee late last year before invited guests that included shippers, shipping line officials, City and Port of Milwaukee officers, and executives of the Harnischfeger Corporation of Milwaukee, the crane's manufacturer. The crane is designed to handle virtually all types of cargo that passes through the Port—containers, heavy lifts to 300 tons, general breakbulk, and scrap.
Based on experience at other ports, the P&H 5300-R is expected to load containers aboard ship at a rate of 25 per hour on deck and 16 to 19 per hour in the hold. This approaches the speed of the huge gantry cranes in use at major ocean ports. This container-handling capability alone is expected to have a major impact on Milwaukee's cargo volume.
The products of Milwaukee's heavy industry requires its port to be a heavy-lift facility. The P&H 5300-R, operating nominally with a 100-foot boom, has the ability to lift 400,000 pounds at a 25-foot radius, 149,000 out to 50 feet, and more than 58,000 pounds at a 100-foot outreach. When needed, the boom can be shortened to 70 feet and lift capacity will increase to 600,000 pounds at an 18-foot radius.
Harnischfeger designed and built special attachments to meet the Port of Milwaukee's particular needs. The boom foot mounting was raised to a height of 17 feet above the dock to enable the crane to work closer to the ship and increasing the boom reach over the deck of the ship. The extra-heavy-duty mast will fold forward to a height of 26 feet, enabling the crane to travel through a 27-foot underpass in the Port area. For the same reason, the height of the operator's cab was held to 26 feet. The operator's eye level is at 23 feet above the dock, which will give him a good view into the holds of most freighters sailing the Great Lakes.
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