A new ship to shore crane collapsed at the port of Fort-de-France in Martinique last Thursday, September 18th, luckily no one was seriously injured. Two men were treated for minor injuries and a further 10 for shock. One man was in the cab or machinery room at the time was trapped on the 60 metre high crane for more than five hours. He was eventually rescued by a ladder platform owned by the fire and rescue service.
From the photos we have seen it looks as though the front legs and rail wheels gave way, or the something occurred with the new track?
Port chairman Bruno Mencé said: "the rescued man was not injured as such but was suffering from shock and had a pain in his side.” He also said that a psychological support unit was sent to the scene within an hour or two of the incident occurring.
The crane is one of two new generation cranes that arrived at the Grand Port Maritime de la Martinique from China in May. They were manufactured by Shanghai based Dinson as part of a joint venture with France’s AES, a designer of port handling equipment. The new cranes were just completely a three month test and installation programme when the incident occurred.
We understand that a team is investigating the cause of the failure. We will update if and when we learn more.
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