Not so easy, peasy

Maxim Crane Works hauls huge, heavy and high cargoes throughout the United States. When the company’s Florida team was called on to move a very large heat exchanger they knew the ropes. The scope of work included moving the component through the plant in which it was manufactured and then hauling it out of the plant to a port on the west coast of Florida and onto a barge that would take it to a chemical plant further up the Gulf Coast.

The heat exchanger was 170 feet long, 26 feet wide and 23 feet tall. The transport weight was 1.1 million pounds. Tie-downs for transporting were incorporated into the fabrication. Maxim would first mobilize its 1500 Series J&R Engineering Life N Lock gantries to the manufacturing facility to lift and place the heat exchanger within the plant, according to J.R. Nutting, project manager/sales for Maxim Crane Works.

“We used the gantry system two different times to lift and move the unit onto our Goldhofer system,” said Nutting. “Once the piece was completed we came out to move it to the port.”

While the route was relatively short, utilities had to be raised and a major highway had to be crossed. Work has begun to place the powerlines underground to make future moving of pieces like this easier.

“This was the first piece produced by this facility,” said Nutting. “This will be a long-term hauling route so burying the utilities will be a good investment.”

Walking speed

Maxim used its 24-line Goldhofer SPMT rigged with a low-bed deck. The exchanger was maneuvered through the plant and along the route to the port using the Goldhofer remote control system. Once out of the plant “walking speed” was the norm. It took about two hours to complete the 1.5 route to the barge landing.

“With such a high center of gravity, you have to travel really slowly,” said Nutting.

Maxim was the ideal contractor for this type of project because of its experience and because the company has a fleet of highly specialized equipment required for these types of hauls.

“Maxim Crane has barge ramps with three sets up to 55 feet long,” Nutting said. “We also have several sets of gantries up to 700-tons in capacity and 66 lines of Goldhofer SPMT and THP. We are doing moves like this one around the country frequently.”