Did you know The Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association awarded OXBO “Hauling Job of the Year” for an August 2017 project, four years ago today!?!

The team joined together the hull and superstructure of a 144-car, 1,500 passenger capacity ferry. OXBO’s job was to safely provide a crew and equipment to move the 1,350 ton hull onto a floating dry dock in Seattle, while simultaneously loading the 1,500 ton superstructure onto a barge in Tacoma.

The hull of the vessel measured 322 feet 6 inches long and 82 feet wide. The upper structure was 280 feet long and 80 feet wide.

The superstructure was designed to sit on top of the hull and built without a floor, making it extremely unstable once lifted off the ground. OXBO Engineering designed a solution that consisted of gantry trusses and a network of cross beams on top of a 72-line Goldhofer PST-SLE. Once erected, the structure was driven by self-propelled Goldhofers under the superstructure and shimmed tight. Twelve 150-metric ton climbing jacks lifted the load an additional 12 inches to clear several obstacles on the barge.

The WWll era wooden dock was another challenge. There was only one location where the pilings were deemed adequate. The 90-degree steering of the Goldhofers allowed the side shifting of the vessel, placing the Goldhofers near the edge of the dock and leaving the vessel cantilevered over the side of the dock nearly 25 feet. Once the side shift was completed, the steering direction was shifted yet again and the vessel was ready to roll onto the barge.

Back in Seattle, the second OXBO crew was working on the hull. The hull was inside a building and needed to cross two 8 foot wide finger piers to get to the dry dock. The small width and tight space was overcome by using 48 dollies in two files that were hydraulically connected in three zones. Six of the dollies were self-propelled, allowing for remote control operation.

Once the two pieces were in the same area OXBO was able to make the transfer in fewer than 90 minutes. The superstructure was set on the hull within 1/32 of an inch, the shims were pulled and the support system was safely driven out from under the load and onto the barge in the same eight-hour shift.

#goldhofer #heavyhaulage #oversizeload #teamoxbo #heavyhaul