Photo by Cliff West
My dad, Cliff West, photographed the heavy load carrier M/V Zhen Hua 1 on the Columbia River at Rainier, Oregon, on April 28, 2006, carrying a new gantry crane bound for the Port of Portland.
Photo by Cliff West
This ship was originally built by the Nippon Kokan Tsurumi Works in Yokohama, Japan, in December 1976 as a K-Line bulk carrier called the Titan. In 1988 or 1989 it was sold to Crescent Shipping Ltd. and was renamed the Rudy G. In October 1991 it was sold to Andreas Ugland Car Carrier and renamed Rudi. In October 1993 it was purchased by Greece-based Global Ocean Carriers and renamed Global Adelaide. In December 1998 it was sold to Entrust Maritime Co. Ltd. and renamed Kyrenia. In 2000 it was rebuilt into the heavy load carrier Zhen Hua 1 for Shanghai Zhenhua Shipping Company. The Zhen Hua 1 is 233.6 meters long overall, with a beam of 32.24 meters and a draft of 9 meters. It has a gross tonnage of 29,300 tons and a deadweight tonnage of 72,399 tons.
Photo by Cliff West
On April 2, 2006, the Zhen Hua 1 arrived at the Port of Seattle carrying five gantry cranes built by Zhenhua Port Machinery Company Limited, which was founded in 1885 as Gongmao Shipyard. Four of the 1,200-ton cranes were unloaded at the Port of Seattle’s Terminal 18, with the fifth bound for the Port of Portland’s Terminal 6. The ship waited in Seattle’s Elliott Bay until the water levels of the Columbia River were low enough for the crane to clear the Lewis & Clark Bridge between Longview, Washington, and Rainier, Oregon. Because the 412-foot width of the crane exceeded the beam of the ship by 95 feet on the port side and 193 feet on the starboard side, the United States Coast Guard established a Safety Zone of a 100 yard radius around the ship. The maximum height of the crane aboard the ship would exceed 225 feet.
Photo by Cliff West
On April 27, 2006, the Zhen Hua 1 crossed the Columbia River bar at Astoria, Oregon, and passed under the Astoria-Megler Bridge at low water with a minus tide of one foot. The crane was measured at 192 feet high aboard the ballasted ship, and the clearance under the bridge was measured at 207 feet. The ship proceeded up the Columbia River to anchor for the night at Longview, Washington.
Photo by Cliff West
The next day, the Zhen Hua 1 was ballasted to a draft of 40 feet, the depth of the Columbia River shipping channel, leaving approximately two feet of freeboard. The clearance under the Lewis & Clark Bridge was measured at 195 feet. The ship passed under the bridge at half a knot with clearance of seven feet. A crewmember standing on top of the crane reportedly reached up and touched the bridge.
Photo by Cliff West
The gantry crane was bound for the container terminal at the Port of Portland’s Terminal 6 to replace a smaller crane. The new post-Panamax crane had a capacity of 60 long tons and a reach of 169 feet. It was the third of its class at Terminal 6, and cost $7.5 million.
Photo by Cliff West
The passage of this crane was a major local news event, with a news helicopter overhead that appears to be KATU’s Chopper 2.
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