{"id":5,"date":"2018-04-20T04:20:39","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T12:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oaklandmofo.com\/?p=5"},"modified":"2020-03-08T19:46:19","modified_gmt":"2020-03-09T03:46:19","slug":"star-wars-at-at-walkers-port-of-oakland-cranes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oaklandmofo.com\/blog\/star-wars-at-at-walkers-port-of-oakland-cranes","title":{"rendered":"Oakland Cranes? Star Wars AT-AT Walkers?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did the Oakland Cranes give birth to the AT-AT Walker?<\/strong>
\nYou have probably heard the ongoing urban legend that George Lucas got his idea for the Star Wars AT-AT Walkers<\/a> from the Port of Oakland shipping container cranes while flying into Oakland International Airport. Can it be confirmed? Who knows the truth. I think it’s highly possible because he does live here in the North Bay at Skywalker Ranch<\/a> in Marin, CA.
\n\"port<\/p>\n

However, George Lucas himself says he did not get his creative idea from the cranes located at the Port. Is this true? Would he give the shipping container cranes credit for his Walkers? Or would he say it is obviously a unique idea created purely by his own imagination? Some even say he actually got the idea from garbage trucks and they do look more like massive garbage trucks.<\/p>\n

Oakland Cranes<\/h2>\n

Oakland is now home to 22 of these Super Post-Panamax container cranes. These behemoths are some of the biggest in the world. So huge in fact that when they shipped them from China they only had 9 feet of clearance from the top of the cranes and the San Francisco Bay Bridge.
\n[insert]
\nEach huge structure stands 253 feet tall which is about a 25 story building. The boom when fully extended is 210 feet and can span across a 24 container wide ship. The huge cranes are able to lift a massive 145,000 lbs each and can unload about 35 shipping containers per hour.
\nBut that all comes at a price. Each crane is an estimated $5.5 million dollars. After transporting them from China to Oakland, they come out to an estimated $7 million dollars each.
\nThis is all in time for the Port of Oakland’s Maritime expansion project which dredged the shipping canal to -50 feet to cater to Post-Panamax cargo ships of the maritime industry.<\/p>\n

MSC Fabiloa – Largest Container Ship to ever port in North America<\/strong>
\nThe expansions and Port of Oakland upgrades have paid off. On March 21st 2012, the MSC Fabiola Ultra-Large Class Container Ship docked at the Port of Oakland. The MSC Fabiola is the largest container ship to ever dock in North America. The container ship can hold up to 6,000(average-sized) containers and is nearly a quarter-mile long at 12,00 feet. The ship is 55 stories long and can travel up to 25 knots.
\n\"oakland<\/a><\/p>\n

Good thing our modernized shipping cranes and port can handle the load of this Ultra-Large Class Container Ship. This is a new class of container ships which are said to have increased fuel economy for large Pacific shipping routes. Out of the world’s current 5,000 container ships, the MCS Fabiola is 1 of only 71 in this Ultra-Large Class.<\/p>\n

After the Port of Oakland, the MSC Fabiola will set sail for China and the voyage should take about 18 days. This class ship usually stays in the Asia Europe trade routes and this is the first time one has made it to the US.<\/p>\n

The Port of Oakland is the 5th largest port in the Nation<\/a> as far as shipping container tonnage movement. The Port of Oakland moves 99% of Northern California’s shipping industry goods through it. We handle a lot of business here in West Oakland in and out. The Port also includes the Oakland International Airport.<\/p>\n

Oakland still has to get rid of its old low profile smaller cranes to make room for the new massive cranes. So they are recycling<\/a> them. Putting them on a barge and shipping them to the Port of Boston. Pretty funny considering the huge baseball rivalry between the Oakland A’s and the Boston Red Sox.<\/p>\n

Shipping routes below.
\n\"shipping<\/p>\n

Ship Time Lapse.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Based on that animation, you probably can’t even begin to wonder what it might seem like crossing a great ocean full of ships passing in the night.
\nWell, you’re in luck because here is an amazing 30-day time-lapse of a cargo shipping mobbing around the world.
\n[youtube]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did the Oakland Cranes give birth to the AT-AT Walker? You have probably heard the ongoing urban legend that George Lucas got his idea for the Star Wars AT-AT Walkers from the Port of Oakland shipping container cranes while flying into Oakland International Airport. Can it be confirmed? Who knows the truth. I think it’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Port of Oakland Cranes Star Wars Rumor + Pictures & Facts","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oaklandmofo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oaklandmofo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oaklandmofo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oaklandmofo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oaklandmofo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oaklandmofo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oaklandmofo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oaklandmofo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oaklandmofo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oaklandmofo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}