PortMiami gets giant cranes as part of $2B improvements

PortMiami received four new cranes yesterday that approach the height of a 25-story building as a part of a $2 billion federal grant for port improvements.

The 262-foot-tall cranes, which will cost a total of $39 million, arrived from Shanghai for the purpose of handling huge container cargo vessels that will pass through the Panama Canal after the expansion in 2015. The proposed $220 million dredging of PortMiami’s shipping canal will allow post-Panamax ships to stop in Miami for the first time. That project is expected to start next month and be done in time for the Panama Canal to finish its renovation.

Part of the port-improvement plan is an ongoing tunnel project that would link PortMiami to the interstate highway system, as previously reported. [Miami Herald] — Mark Maurer