The large open area at Pier 9C is in use again for a special cargo. The Dutch ship Paleisgracht arrived October 17 from Gemlik, Turkey with a cargo of wind turbine tower components.
The sections were stowed on deck and in the ship's hold and are being offloaded with the ship's own cranes, then moved around the pier on self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs).
The shipping company, Spliethoffs, specializes in moving unusual cargoes and has a fleet of about fifty ships, many to their own design, equipped with heavy lift cranes or other custom cargo handling gear. The Paleisgracht is a little unusual in that it was not originally built for Spliethoff's. It was in fact built in 2011 as Beluga Progression by Hudon Zhonghua in Shanghai. A 17,644 gt, 19,496 dwt ice class ship it carries two 700 tonne SWL cranes and one 180 tonne SWL crane, serving box shaped holds. The cranes can be operated in tandem for lifts up to 1400 tonnes.
When Beluga failed amid corruption charges, the ship was acquired by Hansa Heavy Lift and becane HHL Tokyo, but that venture failed too and Spliethoff (and its subsidiary BigLift) acquired a total of ten ships from HHL. The ship was renamed Paleisgracht in 2019.