Structural Engineers Examine Collapsed Cranes
Two $6 Million Cranes Are Total Loss
POSTED: Thursday, August 14, 2008
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Structural engineers spent much of Thursday examining two $6 million container cranes which collapsed on Blount Island Marine Terminal Wednesday afternoon during heavy thunderstorms.
Both of the 200-foot cranes are expected to be total losses.
Jacksonville Port Authority spokeswoman Nancy Rubin said Thursday that no one was injured when heavy winds forced one of the cranes into another one Wednesday afternoon. A third crane was damaged and two other cranes are being inspected to make sure they were not damaged.
"Those cranes do a lot of heavy lifting," Rubin said. "There are a lot of people who work on them and around them, and there is nothing that we want to leave to chance."
Rubin said no cargo was being unloaded at the time and the cranes are insured.
The crane collapses are not expected to severely impact the loading and unloading of cargo. Rubin said there are three remaining cargo cranes at Blount Island and another six at its Talleyrand port.
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration was not actively investigating the collapse because there were no injuries, but in light of several fatal crane collapses this year, including one Thursday in Quincy, Mass., OSHA may examine safety issues with all cranes.
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