Heavy lifting at Port of Albany; Facility handling most tonnage in five years, planning improvements.(Business)

Byline: ERIC ANDERSON - Deputy business editor

ALBANY - The Port of Albany is on track to handle more than 780,000 tons of cargo this year, the most in five years, Albany Port District Commission Chairman Robert Cross said Wednesday.

Shipments of sugar, grain, steel and scrap iron have boosted tonnage and are expected to provide more than 80,000 man-hours of work, up from 63,000 in 2005, Cross said.

Some of the port's most visible cargo - 120-foot wind turbine blades that have been streaming in since April and making their way on trucks along area highways - actually are among the lighter items being unloaded. Each weighs just 8( tons.

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