SC&RA Job of the Year: an engine odyssey
17 June 2025
Removing four Wartsila engines required creative hauling, including a floating crane, SPMTs and a 372-foot GS800 combination – a record for Washington and Barnhart, which won a SC&RA Job of Year Award in the Hauling 160,000 to 500,000 pounds net category.
Barnhart Crane & Rigging navigated the hauling of four Wartsilla engines weighing approximately 230,000 pounds each, some 35 miles.
Barnhart Crane & Rigging was contacted to remove four Wartsila engines from a storage facility and move them to a new location in the USA.
To complete the project Barnhart used multiple lines of self propelled modular transporter (SPMT) due to pier loading concerns, a 500-US ton slide and gantry to remove the engines from the buildings and stage them dockside.
Since no over-the-road or rail routes were available, Barnhart devised a plan to contract a floating crane to load and transport to Port of Olympia that they again received via SPMT to set to staging.
During this entire process Barnhart executed on a longshore controlled site under very difficult operating conditions. Barnhart designed and fabricated specialized shipping frames that were installed to aid in height and weight restrictions as dictated by WSDOT.
Record length
The four engines measured 34 feet 2 inches long by 13 feet 5 inches wide by 14 feet 10 inches tall.
For the transport Barnhart permitted an 11 by 11 GS800 combination that was more than 372 feet (115 metres) long. At the time of writing it was claimed as the longest permitted load ever in the state of Washington, according to state sources. This was also the longest load combination that any Barnhart team had ever performed.
The four engines measured 34 feet 2 inches long by 13 feet 5 inches wide by 14 feet 10 inches tall (10.4x4x4.5 metres). They weighed approximately 392,600 pounds (178 tonnes) each.
“The team worked with city, state and county authorities to locate a route of about 45 miles though the I-5 Corridor to their final location in Centralia Washington,” said Barnhart’s Olof Anderson. “At first there were major concerns with leaving the Port of Olympia but because of the expertise and tenure of the Barnhart LAX team they came up with a plan to back the trailer out of the port nearly 1.5 miles, remove a single tree and work though a residential area until reaching I-5.”
The LAX team completed the four round trip moves in less than a month without any incidents, Anderson said.
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