SSA Cranes Stranded at Manzanillo

The Port of Manzanillo, Mexico, felt the shock wave from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake centered at Colima 50 kilometers to the east. This caused a 75-mm misalignment of the adjacent OPI and SSA berths. The misalignment was at the expansion joint between the berths and distorted the crane rails so the two SSA cranes, which were parked on the OPI berth, were stranded. The wheel flanges interfered with the bent rails. One SSA crane was entirely on the OPI berth, the other straddled the expansion joint. Since neither crane could be returned to the SSA berth, the SSA facility was out of operation.

A Liftech structural engineer flew to Manzanillo and developed a simple scheme for moving the cranes from the OPI berth to the SSA berth across the bent rail: trim the rails. The cranes were back in service on the SSA wharf within a few hours. The facility was back in operation two days after the Colima earthquake struck.



Bent rail at expansion joint


Worker grinding the rail for stranded crane


Crane wheel interference at expansion joint


Trimming the crane rail