I absolutely agree with your statement Captain Ted !

I also recall one example regarding this issue:
By mid 70s Jugolinija from Rijeka, Croatia (then YU) bought their first pure containership named PIONIR, L = 100m (abt) and without any deck cranes.
Much later they installed 1 (one) strong deck crane amidship PIONIR that served fore & aft container holds on the ship (manufacturer of that crane was Liebherr from Nenzing, Austria).

Tungenes also got this single crane. Bremer Reeder and Bremer Handel also had single cranes.

No that unusual,,but mostly those cranes were placed afterwards,,ships builded late 70s early 80,s and then container came and the need for cranes in ports for load/discharge.

Just remember one more
the 1984 at kröger werft , rendsburg built
hanne christine ex grimsnis
also photos at shipspotting
mike

From sietas i remember the 1980 hornbaltic yard no 901 with one crane and the 1973 bremer handel yard no 698 also with one crane. the company gerhard schepers from aschendorf had a couple of ships built in greece with one crane ,i remember the meteor I and adalbert friesecke from hamburg
had the mar terra ex helga friesecke also with one crane and at the brand werft built many nore with only one crane
1975 pep antares , 1976 bernhard schulte , 1979 northern transporter , 1980 nicole , 1983 marina heeren + baltic betina , 1985 tucana and others . most of the ships you will
find at shipspotting under advanced search .hope this was a little help for you
regads mike

My first time seeing a cargo ship with just a single crane.