Port boss takes action after containers fall
(CNS): After two empty containers fell off a stack at the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands’ storage facility earlier this week, Acting Port Director Joseph Woods has issued an order to reduce the number in any stack from six to five, pushing the North Sound Road storage area to its limits. Woods explained that on Tuesday a crane operator in the process of loading a container onto a truck bed moved it over a stack of six empty containers but clipped the one on top, causing it and the container below it to topple over.
Although the crane structure has the capacity to pass over six containers, as there is room for a seventh container to go over all the stacks, it seems the moving container managed to clip the top of the stack it was passing over. The containers did not fall to the ground, however, as they were lodged on the side of the crane system. No one was hurt and nothing was damaged.
“The system was checked to ensure that the operator had the container he was moving lifted to the maximum height the machine can lift to and we confirmed that it was,” Woods told CNS. “At the maximum height the operator would have expected the container being moved to clear the one at the top of the stack, but the clearance was not sufficient and during motion they made contact.”
As a result and two previous similar incidents, he has directed that containers will no longer stack six high. From this point they will be stacked no higher than five containers, which will give crane operators sufficient clearance. But it will limit the storage space available for what appears to be Cayman’s continued appetite for imports, even in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Woods said that there are plans to expand the yard on North Sound Road but this change to the system will reduce the storage capacity for containers from 720 containers to 600 at a time when the yard is already almost full. In the meantime, he will be removing empty containers until later in the year when the expansion plans could go ahead.
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Grand cayman port authority at Georgetown on the port dropped my fully loaded container from 50 foot to the ground personal belongings and household goods also a Range Rover vogue and 2 Lambretta scooters all a total loss Range Rover engine went through the subframe all wheels smashed engine oil running out of the container prior to us collecting in person they charged us £5.500. Import taxes Hmrc then to be told by a laughing man that he dropped the container to the floor we went to inspect we were gutted loss adjusters were appointed the fault was the fork truck they used was only used for empty containers because it was badly worn out I took photos of the worn container lock ins that ripped out of my container then port authority blamed container owned by cma cgm hired a barrister on the island which became political and she could not go any further with the case we was forced to leave the island and carried on legal proceedings in the Uk making a attempting to sue the Cayman Islands London office but we was told to save your time and your money they will not pay and you will not win in a cayman court shocking and the Pierette really do run the island corrupt no taxes refunded also crooks in paradise this was in the papers cayman compass shocking
port authority……a perfect representation of the caymanian civil service…zzzzzzzz
1.51am and you a petfect representation of ‘zz’z”zzz’zzz
Another poor Caymanian stupid excuse for poor workmanship. The crane works great everywhere but Cayman islands.
Am I crazy or is every comment on cayman news service from some disgruntled expat who mumbles and moans about Caymanians? Now I agree it’s a bad workman blaming his tools but Jesus lol.
Pardon my bluntness but this was a really dumb explanation by the Port Director. Please revisit this Joey and give the public something that makes sense.
Is there a way for the public to purchase any of these excess containers?
It is blatently obvious that none of the commentators have any experience of handling shipping containers.
I was not there so can only speculate, but can easily imagine how this particular accident could have happened. without the operator being at fault.
If you weren’t there and couldn’t do the job anyway: shut up!
Go on then since you are an expert – explain it. Because us simple folk don’t understand how a crane designed to handle containers stack 6 high school ends up catching the top layer without either a mechanical failure or an operator error.
Hint: Ask yourself this:
How tall is a container? Can you tell the difference when standing on the ground 60 feet below the gantry picking up a container in the middle of the stack?
Two previous incidents.
One should of been enough
There must have been tens of thousands of containers moved on this site in the years since it was constructed and this is the first accident, which caused no damage. Put it in context.
Maybe the operator could not count that high?
Give them all a general Aptitude test and see how many employees they have left👌🥇
Dur hur because they’re Caymanians you get it?!?! Hahahaha, a real Richard Pryor here.
Great management, I guess next time it happens the solution will be to drop the height to 3.
Unfortunately the Containers weren’t “contained”. We hope for different results with COVID-19.
Let’s just make houses out of them. It’s about all we can afford.
That wouldn’t do, that might put ALT, Flowers and some big developers out of business.
Why is the “Port Director” consuming so much cargo capacity by stacking and warehousing so many empty containers? We have two 7 story cranes that cost millions, and because of dough-head operator error, we need to reduce the stack to 5? These are all management and training problems, unrelated to equipment or capacity. More stinky baiting of the public to blindly authorize big capex projects for the least transparent and least accountable department…it never ends! AG/ACC/SIPL team needs to shine their lights into the Port, investigate the conflicts, and start cleaning house and/or pressing charges.
My boat motors run just fine. No checking needed.
What I took from the article is that there is a flaw in the design or installation of the crane. So until the is sorted out reducing the height of the containers is the right thing to do.
Although the crane structure has the capacity to pass over six containers, as there is room for a seventh container to go over all the stacks, it seems the moving container managed to clip the top of the stack it was passing over. The containers did not fall to the ground, however, as they were lodged on the side of the crane system. No one was hurt and nothing was damaged.
“The system was checked to ensure that the operator had the container he was moving lifted to the maximum height the machine can lift to and we confirmed that it was,” Woods told CNS. “At the maximum height the operator would have expected the container being moved to clear the one at the top of the stack, but the clearance was not sufficient and during motion they made contact.”
It’s one or the other – if it has the capacity to pass over six containers this would not have happened unless there was operator error. If the clearance was not sufficient then it does not have the capacity. Sounds like the operator screwed up and then raised the container the rest of the way and said it was all the way up when it hit…should be pretty easy to verify. Try it again!
Exactly!
about to say the same.
It is interesting that in the article no mention was made of container height. I believe that the most common container height is 8’6″ whilst the high cubes are 9 ‘6″ tall.
Were any high cube containers involved in the present or previous incidents? Can the gantry safely handle high cube containers stacked 6 high?
And if it can’t surely the operator is meant to check – the crane limits must surely be a specific height or a specific number of containers of a specified height – not six containers any height you like.
We don’t know the design clearance but it’s possible for cables to stretch, metal to warp and containers to sway. All of which could cause a collision if the design clearance is small and designed around perfect container specifications
Maybe Dark Energy was the cause ….
He already has some stacks of 6. So previously the crane could clear 6 and now magically it cannot? Hmm. Either the mechanism is broken – surely its under warranty – its operator error, or the clearance has been reduced by the containers being improperly stacked, the tire pressures deflated or the pad is uneven. Finding the problem and fixing it seems to be the more sensible approach than just shrugging your shoulders and accepting a 16% l;oss in capacity.
He already has some stacks of 6. So previously the crane could clear 6 and now magically it cannot? Hmm.