Floating crane stars in Seattle

Date 26 September 2018

The largest floating crane in western North America is now on site in Seattle. The crane will star in the rebuild of the Colman Dock facility, Washington State Ferries’ largest ferry terminal.

The Pacific Lifter is an American Hoist and Derrick 509 revolver. It sits on a 122 metres by 63 metres by 8.5 metres pedestal, with a capacity of 1,042 tons. It was brought this summer by tug and barge, starting its travel from the Gulf of Mexico, via Ensenada, Los Angeles and finally in Seattle.

“It was constructed in 1969,” Kustaa Mansfield, part of the marketing and business development team of Pacific Pile Marine said. “At the time it was constructed, it was the largest crane in North America. A lot of equipment in this industry has maintained its ability to do good work because the physics are the same. It’s essentially a floating crane. It’s not a fixed position but sits on a pedestal and the revolver structure is connected to the pedestal. It allows you to have full rotational capability while you’re on the boat. You can pick a load, turn the crane body and the load moves with you. There isn’t anyone who has an equal machine in this area.”

The crane sits on a barge that is about 9 metres high, with the total height of the barge and crane combined about 106 metres off the water. The barges are on site not only for the Pacific Lifter and other heavy equipment, but as part of the plan to keep the WSF terminal and dock fully operational during the scheduled construction of five years. 

“We made a decision early on to do the construction while we are completely operational,” said Broch Bender, spokesperson of the Washington State Department of Transportation. 

“We run a full sailing schedule with no cuts to service during construction. One of the ways we can do that is by physically removing the construction staging zone to the barges. One of the uses up until now on another barge is to set and drive steel piles into place that form the base. We also use these barges and cranes to drive the steel piles necessary to support the new trestles. This particular crane will be used exclusively to lift and place huge concrete panels. To build out the first section of new terminal building, as well as passenger only facility and the new pedestrian bridge.”

The project is scheduled for completion in 2023.

Source Construction Equipment Guide

Photograph WSDOT photo