Marine cranes get a lift with electrical contacts

The US imports over a trillion dollars of goods per year with 46% arriving via container ships. The ships arrive nearly non-stop and must be unloaded and reloaded for the return trip as quickly as possible. Computers guide the transfer of cargo but the heavy lifting is left up to giant gantry cranes.

Electric powered gantry cranes help keep cargo flowing in and out of the US. Enormous electric motors drive powerful winches that raise and lower cargo containers. And if you look closely, chances are you’ll find electrical contactors starting and stopping the winch motors. Power demands and durability make electrical magnetic contactors the perfect option for starting and stopping crane winches. When you’re lifting 65 or 100-ton cargo containers you can’t have a delay or tolerate failure.

A wide variety of electrical contactor and motor control manufacturers (e.g., ABB, P & H, Square D, GE, Klockner-Moeller, etc.) supply the leading crane builders with motor controls and starters. And while controls are small parts of large cranes, they’re important components. Cranes rely on various electric motors for power hoisting and lowering, track movement, and hydraulic operations. All these systems need to operate efficiently and safely and electrical contacts do their part to keep things moving.

Cranes and Repco replacement parts