A project cargo epic

California and New York bridge reconstructions use same massive crane

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in California and the Tappan Zee Bridge, spanning the Hudson River 25 miles north of midtown Manhattan, have a few things in common. They are both—obviously—bridges, and they both have recently or are in the process of major reengineering. The projects in both cases involve management by ventures, which include the engineering group Fluor and in both cases the projects were assisted by a unique and massive crane, called the Left Coast Lifter. The Lifter was built by American Bridge/Fluor, the joint venture in charge of the Bay Bridge reconstruction, specifically for the California project. The story of its construction, its delivery to California, and relocation to New York is a project cargo odyssey of epic proportions. The construction projects in question involve the replacement of the eastern span of the Bay Bridge, which was completed in 2011, and the total replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge, an ongoing project scheduled for completion in 2018. The Left Coast Lifter itself is a 400-foot by 100-foot floating derrick barge which carries a shear legs crane. The barge was built in Portland, Ore., by U.S. Barge, then ferried to Shanghai, where it was fitted with a shear-leg crane manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co. The crane has a 328-foot long boom, weighing 992 tons with a 1,873- ton lift capacity. It is reportedly the largest barge crane ever used on the U.S. West Coast. The completed sheerleg was ferried back to the United States on a semi-submersible heavy-lift ship, the Zhen Hua 22. The total cost for constructing and transporting the barge and crane was $50 million. Right Coast for Left Coast Lifter In anticipation of bidding on the Tappan Zee Bridge project, Tappan Zee Constructors, a joint venture of Fluor, American Bridge, Granite, and Traylor Brothers, purchased the Left Coast Lifter, and, after winning the bid, transported the barge and crane to the New York area. The crane departed San Francisco Bay under tow in December 2013, transited the Panama Canal in January 2014, and arrived at Jersey City, N.J., later that month. There it was refitted with an upgraded control system before arriving at the Tappan Zee construction site in October 2014. On the Bay Bridge project, a $5.7 billion effort and part of a seismic retrofit program, the Lifter was used to place pre-fabricated truss sections and 28 box girder deck sections. The crane offloaded steel to build temporary support structures for the span, and all of the deck segments for the eastbound and westbound roadways of the bridge, as well as the first sections of the 525-foot bridge tower. The massive crane is now being used for heavy lifts of large bridge sections on the 3.1-mile, $3.1 billion Tappan Zee project. After building the new bridge, the Lifter will also be used for heavy lifts during the dismantlement of the old structure at that location. “The new bridge project is the largest transportation design-build project to date in the United States and one of the largest construction contracts in New York State history,” said Brian Conybeare, special advisor to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on the project. “The use of the Left Coast Lifter, one of the world’s largest floating cranes, for the project, is helping to cut total construction time.” The Tappan Zee replacement will include eight general traffic lanes plus emergency lanes and extra-wide shoulders for express bus service, a new toll plaza with extra highway-speed E-ZPass lanes, and dedicated bicycle and pedestrian paths with scenic overlooks. Bus rapid transit and light rail mass transit are also being planned for the bridge. Engineering Risk The Left Coast Lifter would never have made it to the New York work site without careful planning that included a team of maritime insurance specialists. Scot Burford, a risk engineer at Liberty International Underwriters, worked with a team of marine insurance and risk management professionals to complete a detailed analysis of the crane’s proposed route. “Based on a multitude of factors, the team confirmed the safety of the route, produced guidelines for the tug captains that included weather restrictions and predetermined ports of refuge in the case of bad weather, as well as specifying the ballast conditions and rigging of tow gear on the tugs,” said Burford. “The most knowledgeable local surveyors and tugboat captains with the best safety records were selected for the project.” The tremendous size of the Left Coast Lifter presented some unique challenges in preparing for its voyage. The original intention was to dry tow the crane by loading and securing it on a semi-submersible vessel. However, the lack of an American-flagged vessel that could accommodate the Lifter created logistical complexities and it was decided that the crane would be towed on its own barge. “At first, the LIU team was concerned since the barge was not intended for ocean travel and lacked structural components typically found on oceangoing barges,” said Burford. “But in this instance, the sheer weight and size of the crane provided sufficient stability, and with the addition of a second tug on the barge’s stern, the team was confident the configuration was seaworthy and the barge would travel in a straight line.” As impressive as the crane and its voyage were, it was just one piece in hundreds that needed to be coordinated, underwritten, and put in place for the Tappan Zee Bridge project to come off. More than 200 vessels, coming from all over the United States, are being used to move construction equipment up the Hudson River. In the end, LIU underwrote the project along three lines of marine coverage: marine liability, project cargo and marine hull and machinery. After the Tappan Zee project is completed in 2018, most commuters driving across the span will no doubt be oblivious to the complexity of delivering the cargo that makes their drive possible. And few will remember the story of the enormous crane that was towed 6,000 miles through the Panama Canal to arrive at its new station safely. But for the project cargo industry, it is a voyage not to be forgotten.