Friday roundup: Breakbulk Americas takeaways | IC Tower Index | specialized rigging | heavy lifting haunts

Five Morrow cranes by the ocean working on the Aria Reserve Project in Miami, Florida, USA. (Photo: Morrow)

Crane and Transport Briefing started the week with an upbeat vibe from Breakbulk Americas participants about the outlook for the specialized transportation sector. 

Breakbullk Americas attendees were upbeat and optimistic

Just three weeks away from one of the most contentious presidential elections in history, attendees at the Breakbulk Americas event October 15-17 in Houston, Texas, USA, were upbeat about business prospects. Pre-election jitters were not that apparent as most people said they just want it to hurry up and be done so they can go on with business as usual.

“I noticed a strong turnout and a generally positive vibe among attendees,” said Andrew Wright, who handles business development for Alatas Americas.

And despite potential uncertainties surrounding the upcoming election, BOSS Heavy Haul’s Doug Filos said the market is thriving, with businesses actively seeking transportation solutions.

“The trucking, logistics, heavy haul and specialized transport sectors are experiencing high demand across multiple industries, including oil and gas, solar energy, data centers and power generation,” he said.

The show, which is held each year at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston, was started in 1989, mainly geared to breakbulk in the oil and gas industry. The show has grown, attracting logistics, supply chain, specialized transportation, lifting and rigging professionals from around the world. This year, some 61 countries were represented at the show that covers such industries as oil and gas, power generation and the wind industry and other breakbulk cargoes.

Read more of our exclusive coverage from the show in Houston.

IC Tower Index: slower growth led by big cranes

It‘s already that time again for the annual IC Tower Index of the world’s largest tower crane-owning companies. While the ten year trend in the bar chart race shows a 289 percent increase that might not seem to align with the last two years of slower growth.

The top line total Index figures for the top 20 and top 5 companies were still up, it was by less than half of last year’s increase which was itself lower than the year before. There was also rather less of an increase in the other metrics too. The totals were up by 2.7 and 3.2 %, respectively, which is the lowest increase in at least the last ten years but an increase all the same.

Looking again at that long-term trend gives a better feeling. The IC Tower Index headline top 20 total ten years ago was 2,270,644 points while this year it is 8,831,496. For the top five companies it was an even grander 304 % jump.

Read more about the 2024 IC Tower Index and its development over the last decade.

From radioactive cargo to autoclaves: behind the scenes of specialized rigging projects

Complicated jobs often require a long list of highly specialized equipment, and this was the case with several recent rigging jobs in North America. These projects are true “humdingers.”

For a sensitive decommissioning project, Edwards Moving and Rigging moved four Class 7 radioactive components from Florida to a disposal site in Texas. This intricate operation involved multimodal logistics, sophisticated rigging and precise coordination across numerous state agencies and infrastructure.

A manufacturing company in Arlington, WA, decided to upgrade its telephone pole pressure treating equipment with a larger autoclave. Omega Morgan was called in to remove the original 160,000-pound autoclave that was in a below-ground pit and replace it with a larger one.

Buckingham Heavy Transport lifted and transported a 125-foot by 22-foot 6-inch single-span railway bridge from its staging area to permanent abutments.

At Nucor Steel Gallatin material handling is crucial to smooth production processes. Nucor relies on Mi-Jack Products’ 70-ton capacity rubber-tired gantry crane outfitted with a custom coil handling attachment and a hydraulic-powered rotating hook.

Read more about the year’s most complex rigging and transport operations.

Heavy lifting haunts: a Halloween spotlight on crane projects

This Halloween, the Crane & Transport Briefing takes you to some of the spookiest construction sites in the industry, including a mausoleum lift at a historic Memphis cemetery and a haunting scene at Corpus Christi’s Harbor Bridge project, where cranes and moonlight set a ghostly stage.

Memphis-based Barnhart, known for its expertise in lifting heavy components and equipment at various job sites, recently tackled an unusual project at the Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery in Memphis. The task involved moving a brand-new, custom-made mausoleum from a truck to its designated resting place.

Scores of cranes are working at the Harbor Bridge project in Corpus Christi, TX, including two 21LC550 Comansa tower cranes. This summer, a ghostly photo was taken at the jobsite that was eerily lit by crane lights and the full moon.

Get ready for thrills, chills and some heavy lifting this October!

Dive into these spooky sites and discover the cranes that brought them to life.