Left Coast Lifter

Left Coast Lifter is a floating derrick barge or sheerleg which was built to assist in the eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. The barge carries a shear legs crane which is the largest barge crane ever used on the U.S. West Coast. The barge's name is taken from "Left Coast", a slang term for the West Coast of the United States (which appears on the left side of a typical map and also refers to the region's liberal, or "left leaning", political tradition).

Left Coast Lifter at work on the Bay Bridge
28 May 2011
History
US
Name: Left Coast Lifter
Operator: Tappan Zee Constructors
Builder: US Barge LLC
Yard number: Hull 2[1]
Completed: 2009
In service: 2009–present
Homeport: Wilmington
Identification: USCG ID 1206934
Status: In service
General characteristics
Class and type: Floating barge crane
Tonnage: 7,695 GT
Length: 384 feet (117 m)
Beam: 99.8 feet (30 m)
Draught: 22 feet (7 m)
Propulsion: none

Operational history
Zhenhua 22 ferrying Left Coast Lifter past Alcatraz Island.

Left Coast Lifter was built for the American Bridge/Fluor joint venture (ABFJV),[2] which was the lead contractor on the self-anchored suspension eastern span replacement. The barge was built in Portland, Oregon by U.S. Barge, LLC[3] and ferried to Shanghai, where it was fitted with a shear-leg crane manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co. Ltd (ZPMC). The completed sheerleg was ferried back to the United States on a semi-submersible heavy-lift ship, Zhen Hua 22 (IMO 8106446). The total cost was approximately US$50,000,000 (equivalent to $59,590,000 in 2019).[4]

Before Left Coast Lifter was fitted out with the crane for bridge construction, it was deemed to violate the Jones Act, specifically in that since the integral crane would be built and installed in China, it could not be used to transport goods by water between U.S. ports. Therefore its first job, prior to installation of the crane, was to haul dredged materials to Long Beach.[5]

Bay Bridge

After Left Coast Lifter arrived at the Bay Area in March 2009,[6] it was used to place pre-fabricated falsework truss sections and the 28 box girder deck sections.[7][8] Before the heavy deck sections for the Bay Bridge were lifted, Left Coast Lifter raised a sunken tugboat in August 2009, USS Wenonah.[9] The first deck section was lifted in February 2010,[10] and the last deck section was lifted in October 2011.[11]

Tappan Zee Bridge
Left Coast Lifter working on the new Tappan Zee bridge.

American Bridge/Fluor solicited offers for Left Coast Lifter in 2012, after the conclusion of its work on the Bay Bridge.[12] A consortium of companies, Tappan Zee Constructors (TZC, a joint venture of Fluor, American Bridge, Granite and Traylor Brothers), purchased the crane barge, which gave them a competitive edge in the bidding process for the construction of the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement across the Hudson River.[13] Reportedly, according to the purchase agreement between TZC and ABFJV, Left Coast Lifter will be returned to ABFJV once the work on the Tappan Zee Bridge is completed.[14][15]

Now nicknamed I Lift NY, the barge is still officially registered with the U.S. Coast Guard as Left Coast Lifter. The crane departed San Francisco Bay under tow in December 2013, transited the Panama Canal in January 2014,[16] and arrived at Jersey City at the end of January.[17] There it was refitted with an upgraded control system[18] before arriving at the job site in October 2014.[19] Left Coast Lifter made its first lift on the new Tappan Zee bridge in April 2015,[20] a steel-reinforced concrete pile cap which formed part of the bridge's foundation.

The massive crane was being used for heavy lifts of large bridge sections,[21] and placed the final steel girder for the new Rockland-bound (westbound) span in October 2016.[22] The final lift for the eastbound span to Westchester was completed in April 2018.[23] Between and after the assembly of the new bridge spans, Lifter was also used for heavy lifts during the dismantling of the original Tappan Zee Bridge at that location.[24][25]

The eastern span of the old Tappan Zee Bridge was dropped into the Hudson via controlled detonation in January 2019; although the intent was to dismantle the bridge in place, during opening celebrations for the replacement Mario M. Cuomo Bridge in September 2018, a loud pop was heard and the original Tappan Zee bridge was closed to workers, as engineers determined it had become unstable. The Federal Highway Administration approved a revised plan to detonate the original bridge's supports in December 2018.[26] "I Lift NY" was used to retrieve portions of the old bridge from the Hudson;[27] in October 2019, the crane left the Hudson and was stored on Staten Island,[28][29][30] at Caddell Dry Dock and Repair Co., Inc.[31][32]

Spuyten Duyvil Bridge

Left Coast Lifter was also used for a heavy lift during the summer 2018 maintenance of the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge; the crane moved the swing section of the bridge onto a barge in June to facilitate work on electrical and mechanical equipment that had been damaged during Hurricane Sandy.[33] The bridge was returned in August, once refurbishment was complete.[34]

Design

Liftech Consultants assisted ABFJV with design review for the crane, including developing the technical specifications sent to ZPMC.[35] The project received three Excellence in Structural Engineering awards:

While transporting the sheerleg, the heel pin support may be moved towards the bow of the barge in order to lower the boom and the overall profile of the barge, facilitating transport.

The shear-leg crane on Left Coast Lifter has a 328-foot (100 m) long boom, weighing 992 short tons (900 t) with a 1,873-short-ton (1,699 t) lift capacity.[3] It is the largest barge crane ever used on the U.S. West Coast.

See also

References
  1. Colton, Tim (28 July 2016). "Vigor Fab, Portland OR". Shipbuilding History. Archived from the original on 10 May 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  2. "FLUOR Projects: CALTRANS San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Construction". FLUOR. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  3. "Bay Bridge Construction Enters Momentous Stage As Giant Crane Barge Makes Historic Entry" (PDF) (Press release). San Francisco. 12 March 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  4. "Bay Bridge gets a whopping crane". San Francisco Chronicle. 13 March 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  5. Vorderbrueggen, Lisa (22 February 2008). "Coast Guard OKs barge for giant Chinese crane". Inside Bay Area. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  6. Betts, Karin (12 March 2009). "Massive 'Left Coast Lifter' Crane Arrives in San Francisco Bay". Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Archived from the original on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  7. Eskenazi, Joe (13 March 2009). "Pssst, Buddy: You Wanna Buy a Giant Crane?". SF Weekly. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  8. Vorderbrueggen, Lisa (28 May 2013). "Left Coast Lifter Set to Leave Bay Area after Bay Bridge work". Contra Costa Times. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  9. "ABFJV Helps Prevent Serious Environmental Hazard" (PDF). FLUOR. 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  10. Rokeach, Barrie (3 February 2010). "Historic Lift of First Self-Anchored Suspension Span Section for New Bay Bridge East Span". Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Archived from the original on 8 February 2010. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  11. Bobb, Nancy E.; Kolle, Greg A. (September–October 2012). "Bridging the Bay". Public Roads. Federal Highway Administration. 76 (2).
  12. Beegle, Bob (Spring 2012). "Barges: An Overview of the Workhorses of the Marine Industry" (PDF). Marcon International. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  13. Berger, Joseph (27 January 2014). "Muscular West Coast Worker Is on Way to Build New Tappan Zee". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  14. Matier, Phil; Ross, Andrew (27 October 2014). "$50 million Bay Bridge crane given to builders for free". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  15. Juva-Brown, Theresa (30 October 2014). "California's super crane revives coastal rivalry". Lower Hudson Journal News. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  16. Weiller, Daniel (January 15, 2014). "'I LIFT NY' SUPER CRANE TRANSITS PANAMA CANAL, CONTINUES TOWARD NEW NY BRIDGE PROJECT SITE". New York State Thruway Authority. Archived from the original on 4 April 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  17. "Monster Crane Arrives In NYC To Help Build New Tappan Zee Bridge". CBS New York. 30 January 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  18. Juva-Brown, Theresa (30 July 2014). "Tappan Zee Bridge: Left Coast Lifter gets tech upgrade". Poughkeepsie Journal. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  19. "Left Coast Lifter Clears Tappan Zee Bridge". Engineering News-Record. McGraw-Hill Construction. October 9, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
  20. "'Game changer' TZ crane makes 1st lift". Lower Hudson Journal News. 26 April 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  21. Berger, Joseph (6 October 2014). "West Coast Weightlifter Arrives at Tappan Zee Site". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  22. Coyne, Matt (10 October 2016). "Tappan Zee Bridge's super crane taking a break". Lower Hudson Journal News. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  23. "Last Lift: Super Crane Installs Final Girder Assembly". The New NY Bridge: Progress Updates. 18 April 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  24. "Double Duty: Super Crane Balances Construction and Dismantling Operations". The New NY Bridge: Progress Updates. 11 April 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  25. "Fluor Uses Super Crane to Deconstruct Tappan Zee Bridge Across Hudson River in N.Y." Fluor Newsroom [blog]. 30 November 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  26. Zambito, Thomas C. (January 15, 2019). "Tappan Zee Bridge comes down in a flash; video". Rockland/Westchester Journal News. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  27. Spillane, Matt (May 13, 2019). "See Tappan Zee Bridge spans lowered, lifted on Hudson River". Rockland/Westchester Journal News. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  28. Kramer, Peter D. (October 21, 2019). "Left Coast Lifter leaves Tappan Zee, mission accomplished". Rockland/Westchester Journal News. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  29. "The "I Lift NY" crane that helped build the bridge and dismantle the old Tappan Zee Bridge has left the river". News 12 Westchester. October 22, 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  30. "Thanks for the Memories: Super Crane Departs Project Site" (Press release). New York State Thruway Authority / New NY Bridge. October 22, 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  31. Silvestri, Pamela (November 21, 2019). "Check out massive 328-foot crane on North Shore". Staten Island Advance. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  32. Silvestri, Pamela (May 15, 2020). "'Left Coast Lifter' lives through pandemic on Staten Island". Staten Island Advance. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  33. Coyne, Matt (14 June 2018). "Left Coast Lifter tapped to help Amtrak with track work". Lower Hudson Journal News. Retrieved 2 October 2018./
  34. Fleischer, Tim (1 August 2018). "Spuyten Duyvil Bridge getting put back in place after repairs". ABC 7 New York. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  35. "1,700 t Floating Crane Design Review 'Left Coast Lifter'" (PDF). Liftech Consultants. September 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 February 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  36. "2010 SEAONC Excellence in Engineering Awards". Structural Engineers Association of Northern California News. Vol. XIII no. 6. San Francisco: SEAONC. June 2010. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  37. "SEAOC Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards". SEAOC. 2011. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  38. "2011 NCSEA Awards Presentation" (PDF). NCSEA. 22 October 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
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