Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Oakland Sees Hybrid Crane Gains

By Karen Robes Meeks

SSA’s Oakland International Container Terminal anticipates a 96 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emission from its $6 million conversion to hybrid yard cranes, the Port of Oakland said Tuesday.

“This is way better than we thought it would be,” said Ken Larson, crane manager for Seattle-based SSA Terminals. “So far, this is a very successful project.”

The marine terminal, which moves 61 percent of cargo coming through Oakland, is converting 13 rubber-tired gantry cranes from diesel to battery-powered hybrid engines. Since March, three of the 90-foot-tall cranes have been upgraded and are now back in service, resulting in a big drop in the use of fuel. The others will be retrofitted by next June.

“The old engines burned 10 to 12 gallons of diesel an hour; the new ones… about a half-gallon per hour,” explained Larson. “That’s the nuts and bolts of air emission savings right there and we’re astonished by the results.”