In October, the Chinese heavy-lift ship Zhen Hua 29 completed a 19,687-nautical-mile, three-and-a-half-month journey from Shanghai to ports in Mississippi, Texas, and Jamaica, delivering five massive ship-to-shore cranes. Originally a crude-oil tanker, the 800-foot vessel had to sail around Africa instead of using the Panama Canal due to the cranes’ overhanging booms. The cranes, built by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC), make up about 80% of US port cranes, prompting US security concerns over potential remote control or surveillance capabilities. Despite these concerns, inspections found no vulnerabilities. The voyage illustrates both the complexity of global shipping logistics and the dominance of Chinese manufacturing in port infrastructure, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. After offloading the cranes, the Zhen Hua 29 returned to Shanghai via the Panama Canal, completing a near-global circumnavigation.
