Dock side crane location question

[Satan's Goldfish]

This is a long shot, but apart from Harwich (pictured below), are there any locations where the rear boom of a dock side container container crane over hangs something other than just 'empty' hard standing associated with the dock itself? (i.e. buildings, roads, rail lines, etc)

 

 

Thanks.

[Fat Controller]

This is a long shot, but apart from Harwich (pictured below), are there any locations where the rear boom of a dock side container container crane over hangs something other than just 'empty' hard standing associated with the dock itself? (i.e. buildings, roads, rail lines, etc)

 

Harwich Cranes.JPG

 

Thanks.

I don't think so, at least not in the UK. Some of the continental ports have rail tracks in the area served by the main cranes, but UK practice seems to be to either unload the container on to the hard-standing, or onto one of the 'internal user' trailers that shuttle around the place. These then take the boxes to the Customs shed (if required), rail sidings or standage areas.

Here are :-

Southampton  https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Southampton/@50.9058166,-1.455241,1181m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x48738957be152909:0xa78c5a6a4cda71f0!6m1!1e1?hl=en

Felixstowe      https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Felixstowe,+Suffolk/@51.958555,1.3002794,1154m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x47d97635581d89a3:0x821bdd4b6b3e6df0!6m1!1e1?hl=en

I had a look at Seaforth; curiously, though there were stacks of boxes, there didn't appear to be any cranes.     

[Edwin_m]

This is one of those ideas that is superficially attractive but has some problems in practice. 

 

I believe there are some "dry ports" where containers are transferred on dedicated rail shuttles between the port itself and an inland site with more space available for storage and for collecting and distributing the shiploads.  Some of these probably have tracks on the dockside.  However unless the shuttles have exclusive use of the railway it is difficult to move the containers in/out as quickly as the ships can be un/loaded. 

 

This is even more tricky in the situation of British container ports where the boxes arrive and leave either by road or by trains to/from a range of destinations, the trains being on timetables that don't necessarily match those of the ships.  The loader would have to move each container to/from the correct vehicle, and if this involved moving the big crane along the quay to find an empty slot on the train then the transfer operation would be significantly slower and therefore the ship would have to spend longer in port.  Since the ship and the quayside are the critical assets, anything that worsens their utilisation is bad news.  The alternative of shuffling the train back and forth probably requires more time and certainly takes up more space. 

 

Also, if the containers need to be stored to await a timetabled slot for a train or a ship, it is much more space- and cost-efficient to stack them several deep on a hardstanding rather than sitting on wagons in a fan of sidings.  A further problem is that Customs may wish to inspect a specific container, which risks delaying the entire train to offload it. 

 

Hence nearly all ports load and unload the boxes whether on ship, train or truck to and from a storage area where they can be left for as long as necessary without getting in the way of other operations. 

[Satan's Goldfish]

I think i may have been misunderstood slightly with the query. Fully aware of the practice/methods of ship unloading, i've ringed the area i'm interested in red on the Harwich picture below and the fact that these parts of the back boom behind the rear wheels of the gantry would pass over in-use roads and a building beneath. Where's in the usual port environment it's just empty hard standing areas behind the rear wheels of the crane. Ignoring anything train related for a moment, i was curious as to if there were any other locations (like Harwich) where the back boom extends beyond the dock and over other properties/businesses/transport routes, etc. Most modern purpose built ports avoid this, it's more likely something at an adapted port from the early days of intermodal operations.

 

 

Thanks

[Merc435]

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Greenock/@55.9550001,-4.7602486,273m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x4889a54d98f64263:0xe225f63045361dfc!8m2!3d55.956476!4d-4.771983

 

At Greenock Ocean Terminal, all 3 cranes overhang Warehouses on the Quayside, when the cranes are at the east end of the Quay.

[Satan's Goldfish]

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Greenock/@55.9550001,-4.7602486,273m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x4889a54d98f64263:0xe225f63045361dfc!8m2!3d55.956476!4d-4.771983

 

At Greenock Ocean Terminal, all 3 cranes overhang Warehouses on the Quayside, when the cranes are at the east end of the Quay.

That's brilliant, thank you, exactly the sort of 'prototype for everything' I was looking for.

[The Stationmaster]

Here are a couple of views of the Greenock ones as seen from a passing ship 

 

 

[Merc435]

From the left to right.

 

Cranes number 3, 1 and 2.

 

I should have quayside photos of the cranes somewhere..... I shall have a look.