Gantry container crane

A gantry container crane is the ship-to-shore (STS) quay crane that loads and discharges containers between vessel and quay, a rail-mounted gantry with a forward boom that luffs or hinges up to clear a departing ship. It lifts through a spreader on a wire-rope hoist, cycling roughly 25 to 35 moves per hour single-hoist, more with tandem or twin-lift heads. Size classes follow ship beam: Panamax, post-Panamax, and the super-post-Panamax cranes whose outreach spans 22 to 25 container rows for ultra-large container vessels. The crane runs on a wide rail gauge with wheel loads of several hundred kN per wheel and a defined outreach, backreach, and lift height that set the quay structure and apron layout.