The Zhen Hua 28, a repurposed tanker moving giant cranes from China to Tacoma, WA
Today out our front window we saw this crazy looking ship. It looked like a giant ship with huge cranes on the deck. We marveled that the ship stood upright. It looked like it should topple over in a stiff breeze because it seemed so top-heavy.
Later today while birding at a little area called the Middle Waterway in Tacoma I got a look at the same ship from a different angle.
It turns out that the arrival of this ship has been a much anticipated sight to ship-watchers in our area. The Port of Tacoma has ordered these cranes from a builder in China to service the new giant container ships that require such huge cranes to load and unload them. A new class of cargo ships called post-Panamex ships that are some of the largest container ships in the world. Pier 4 at the Port of Tacoma is being reconfigured to hold 8 of these gigantic cranes in order to service these new super-huge ships. Four more will arrive on a different ship later. These cranes, when fully extended, will be 434 feet high.
It was really cool to look out and see this unique sight, and even cooler to find the article in the local paper describing that rather than being a weird top-heavy ship with huge cranes for unknown purpose, it was a ship with the cranes welded to the deck being delivered to our local port.
Birding was a bit slow today, so I posted on the Bald eagles at the Gog-li-hi-ti wetland in town.
Good birding, and check out the crane-heavy ship in Commencement Bay if you are nearby.