SC&RA Job of the Year Awards

This year’s SC&RA Job of the Year competitions featured strong entries from around the world, writes Terry White. The judging panels made their selections from 16 Hauling and 11 Rigging jobs. Congratulations to the six winning entries announced during the Annual Conference Closing Night Awards and Recognition Dinner on Saturday, April 5.

Rigging

Over $750,000: Barnhart Crane and Rigging, Memphis, Tenn., replaced numerous major components, including four transformers, two moisture separator reheaters, nine feedwater heaters, the generator stator, HP turbine rotor, two reactor feed pump turbines and a steam dryer as part of a power-increase project at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Port Gipson, Miss. The work occurred during a planned outage from February through April in 2012.

Rigging US$150,000 to $750,000: Burkhalter, Columbus, Miss., set the new lift-span Galveston Causeway Railroad Bridge in Galveston Causeway Railroad Bridge in Galveston, Texas. Burkhalter crews transported the bridge, which weighed 3 million pounds and measured 386 feet 6 inches long by 22 feet 9 inches wide by 64 feet 8 inches high, across the Intracoastal Waterway through Galveston Bay, floated it into place with only a few inches of clearance and set it onto supports. Burkhalter also lifted and removed the old bridge.

Under $150,000: Tradelossa, Durango, Mexico, performed a challenging rigging procedure for a low-pressure steam turbine, which weighed 330,700 pounds and measured 35 feet 5 inches long by 13 feet wide by 12 feet high, in Chihuahua, Mexico. Because of physical and project constraints, Tradelossa had to change to a smaller vehicular configuration, drive backwards in a narrow, enclosed warehouse and use two types of rigging equipment.

Hauling
Moving (using specialized equipment, such as self-propelled transporters, dollies and crawler assemblies): Sarens/Rigging International, Alameda, Calif., transported the U.S. Space Shuttle Endeavor on it final mission, a 14.2-mile journey from Los Angeles International Airport to the California Science Center. In front of more than a million spectators, Sarens used 20 axle lines of self-propelled modular trailers (SPMTs) to transport this national treasure, which weighed 150,000 pounds and measured 78 feet from wing tip to wing tip, 125 feet from nose to tail, and 56 feet from ground to top of tail.

Over 160,000 pounds (net): Burkhalter, Columbus, Miss., simultaneously transported two hydrogen sulfide absorbers on 76 miles of state and federal highways from Bigbee Valley, Miss. to Mississippi Power’s Kemper County IGCC Energy facility. Each absorber weighed 1,425,730 pounds and measured 237 feet 4 inches long by 20 feet 5 inches wide by 20 feet 10-1/2 inches high. The gross vehicle weight per each transport vehicle was 2,548,440 pounds.

Under 160,000 pounds (net): Precision Specialized Division, Inc., Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada, moved a crated machine, which weighed 110,000 pounds and measured 21 feet long by 19 feet wide by 20 feet high, from Oshawa to Peterborough in Ontario. Loaded dimensions were 185,000 pounds and 116 feet long by 19 feet wide by 21 feet high. The four-day haul over 112 miles passed through the Greater Toronto, one of the world’s most populated cities.

Look for details about Job of the Year Winners in upcoming issues of SC&RA’s official magazines, American Cranes & Transport and International Cranes and Specialized Transport.