" An Injury To ONE -- Is An Injury To ALL " -- Longshore Union Motto, seen on shirts, safety vests, license plate frames, and probably a tombstone or two.
Commonly called a " Top Pick ", this over - sized equipment moves a single container, loaded or empty, from all four top corner ISO pockets. The pick itself weights 60,000lbs or more, plus the container that can weight up to 67,000lbs. max loaded, and can stack cans up to 5 high.
A similar lift called a Side Pick only lifts a can from 2 ISO pockets on one side, and is only used for empty cans. Side picks can stack empty cans up to 7 high.
Top Pick & Side Pick equipment will sort & stack cans, and transfer them to yard goat - powered " carts " to be moved about the yards and to and from ship cranes. They also place cans on port trucker container chassis, as well as Steamship - owned and chassis pool - owned road chassis. Chassis damage is common; admission of guilt by Longshore is non - existent.
Picture one of these Top - Picks laying on its' side, after a rookie operator was spinning doughnuts in the container yard. Or a top pick operator stopping HARD with a load up high, AND nosing over the can AND top pick into a loaded stack AND knocking over the entire stack. OR a top pick knocking over a 120 foot high yard light pole. ( Several of these have happened through the years. ) Punishment for The Guilty is non - existent; that Top Pick driver is likely a shop steward by now, with Union nepotism common and drug tests not allowed by Union Contract.
I'm quite surprised this image was even posted; Longshore usually cover up their Boo - Boo's very quickly. If one knows where to look, evidence of past Boo - Boo's can be had at most Port Container facilities. Smashed yard pickups ( that was a Chevy S - 10 ), bent chassis, yard goats that hit something SOLID -- at speed. My favorite is the T - Boned Yard Security Van !
" An Injury to ONE -- Is An Injury to ALL " indeed. The " Rail Clerk " in the pickup is a Longshore too.