At more than 1,000 feet long, 250 feet wide, and 170 feet tall each, two blimp hangars constructed in the 1940s at Moffett Field are among the world’s largest clear-span timber structures. One of these hangars had significant damage to many of its timber truss arches, and the damage was progressing along the length of the hangar to the extent that…
Archives: Projects
Moffett Field Hangar, Access Shoring Tower System, Mountain View, California
Liftech designed an access shoring tower system and strand jack assembling system. The access system is 80 feet x 80 feet x 130 feet tall. It is designed to shore and jack the hangar roof from its deck and facilitate access to the roof with an array of equipment on its deck including lifts and cranes. It is designed for asymmetric…
Moffett Field Hangar, Beam Jacking Procedure, Mountain View, California
A 20-foot-wide, 22-foot-tall, 200-foot-long wooden box beam above the hangar doors had deteriorated and sagged down onto the nested sliding door system. Liftech designed a jacking procedure and jacking system so Power could raise and repair the box beam. The jacking system included lifting and holding jacks. The lifting jacks had low friction bearings to allow the distorted box beam…
Manzanillo International Terminal Crane Raises, Republic of Panama
Manzanillo International Terminal (MIT) hired Global Rigging and Transport (GRT) to increase the lift height of eight ZPMC ship-to-shore (STS) cranes located in Panama, and potentially for other terminals in Mexico and Chile. Liftech provided design review for structural modifications to increase the lift height of two STS crane designs. Earlier, Liftech assisted MIT with the initial procurement of these…
Maher ZPMC Crane Raise, Elizabeth, New Jersey
Maher Terminals planned to increase the lift height of their 2006 ZPMC STS cranes from 120 ft to 165 ft (36.6 m to 50.3 m), an increase of 45 ft (13.7 m), to accommodate larger vessels calling at their Elizabeth, New Jersey, terminal. Liftech helped Maher by providing structural engineering services including reviewing wheel loads and stability, preparing structural and…
Articulated Balance Crane Design
Liftech conceptualized and designed the Articulated Balance Crane (ABC) concept, a design that reduces the weight and wheel loads of ship-to-shore (STS) cranes. Operationally, the ABC functions similar to a conventional STS crane. For stowage, the elongated boom and apex rotate as a unit about hinges near the top of the waterside legs, providing vessel clearance, while the machinery house…
Truss Boom Crane Design
The client operates terminals at a port in southern China and wanted to procure five new super post-Panamax cranes for a terminal with limited wheel load and tie-down load capacity. ZPMC proposed a truss boom and girder design to reduce wheel loads and tie-down loads. Liftech assisted the client by participating in the conceptualization and design of the upper works structure…
Ro-Ro Ramp Design, Matson Navigation, Oakland and Hawaii
Matson retained Liftech to design roll-on, roll-off (ro-ro) ramps suitable for transporting automobiles and light trucks onto and off ships. Liftech provided analysis, design, and fabrication audit of the ramps, which were fabricated in China. We designed the primary structure, the articulation, structures to support the wheeled dollies, and collaborated with naval architects to design the ship interface structure. The ramps latch…
Bauxite Unloader Structural Modification
The client operates two unloaders at its facility in South America. One of the unloaders is experiencing chronic fatigue cracking. The unloader was shut down for operation several times for emergency repairs of critical fatigue cracks. The client was concerned with the structural reliability of the unloader, and crack repairs and inspections were disruptive to the operation. The client retained Liftech to provide engineering…
Crane Procurement, Crane Modification, and Wharf Expansion, Port Everglades Department of Broward County, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Port Everglades operates seven 1990s, 46.5-LT capacity low profile STS cranes at their Southport terminal for servicing vessels up to 16 containers across. The port expects to serve vessels up to 22 containers across with up to 8 high on deck in the future and is procuring new 65-LT capacity cranes.