''Left Coast Lifter'' is a floating

derrick barge A derrick is a lifting device composed at minimum of one guyed mast, as in a gin pole, which may be articulated over a load by adjusting its guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower, and a ...

sheerleg A floating sheerleg (also: shearleg) is a floating water vessel with a crane built on shear legs. Unlike other types of crane vessel, it is not capable of rotating its crane independently of its hull. There is a huge variety in sheerleg capaci ...

which was built to assist in the

eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge The eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge was a construction project to replace a seismically unsound portion of the Bay Bridge with a new self-anchored suspension bridge (SAS) and a pair of viaducts. The bridge is ...

. The barge carries a

shear legs Shear legs, also known as sheers, shears, or sheer legs, are a form of two-legged lifting device. Shear legs may be permanent, formed of a solid A-frame and supports, as commonly seen on land and the floating sheerleg, or temporary, as aboard a ...

crane which is the largest barge crane ever used on the U.S. West Coast. The barge's name is taken from "

Left Coast Left Coast is a political expression that implies that the West Coast of the United States leans politically to the left or the expression can refer to states that lean politically left. The implication is that with the exception of Alaska, the s ...

", a slang term for the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

(which appears on the left side of a typical map and also refers to the region's liberal, or "left leaning", political tradition).

Operational history

''Left Coast Lifter'' was built for the American Bridge/Fluor joint venture (ABFJV), which was the lead contractor on the self-anchored suspension eastern span replacement. The barge was built in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

by U.S. Barge, LLC and ferried to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, 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 A heavy-lift ship is a vessel designed to move very large loads that cannot be handled by normal ships. They are of two types: *''Semi-submersible'' ships that take on water ballast to allow the load—usually another vessel—to be floated o ...

, ''Zhen Hua 22'' (IMO 8106446). The total cost was approximately . 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.

Bay Bridge

After ''Left Coast Lifter'' arrived at the Bay Area in March 2009, it was used to place pre-fabricated

falsework Falsework consists of temporary structures used in construction to support a permanent structure until its construction is sufficiently advanced to support itself. For arches, this is specifically called centering. Falsework includes temporary su ...

truss sections and the 28 box girder deck sections. Before the heavy deck sections for the Bay Bridge were lifted, ''Left Coast Lifter'' raised a sunken tugboat in August 2009, USS ''Wenonah''. The first deck section was lifted in February 2010, and the last deck section was lifted in October 2011. File:Cross Beam Lift (D 105).jpg, ''Left Coast Lifter'' raises a prefabricated steel bridge segment for the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge. File:Zeppelin-ride-020100925-211 (5028810347).jpg, ''Left Coast Lifter'' and the old and new eastern spans of the Bay Bridge near

Yerba Buena Island Yerba Buena Island (Spanish: ''Isla Yerba Buena'') sits in San Francisco Bay within the borders of the City and County of San Francisco. The Yerba Buena Tunnel runs through its center and connects the western and eastern spans of the San Francis ...

(2010).

Tappan Zee Bridge

American Bridge/Fluor solicited offers for ''Left Coast Lifter'' in 2012, after the conclusion of its work on the Bay Bridge. A consortium of companies, Tappan Zee Constructors (TZC, a joint venture of Fluor, American Bridge,

Granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

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 Tappan may refer to: People * Tappan (Native Americans) * Arthur Tappan (1786–1865), abolitionist * Benjamin Tappan (1773–1857), Ohio senator * Clair S. Tappaan (1878–1932), California judge and Sierra Club president * Eli Todd Tappan ( ...

across the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. 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. 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, and arrived at Jersey City at the end of January. There it was refitted with an upgraded control system before arriving at the job site in October 2014. ''Left Coast Lifter'' made its first lift on the new Tappan Zee bridge in April 2015, 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, and placed the final steel girder for the new Rockland-bound (westbound) span in October 2016. The final lift for the eastbound span to Westchester was completed in April 2018. 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. 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. "I Lift NY" was used to retrieve portions of the old bridge from the Hudson; in October 2019, the crane left the Hudson and was stored on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

, at Caddell Dry Dock and Repair Co., Inc.

Spuyten Duyvil Bridge

''Left Coast Lifter'' was also used for a heavy lift during the summer 2018 maintenance of the

Spuyten Duyvil Bridge The Spuyten Duyvil Bridge is a railroad swing bridge that spans the Spuyten Duyvil Creek between Manhattan and the Bronx, in New York City. The bridge is located at the northern tip of Manhattan where the Spuyten Duyvil Creek meets the Hudson ...

; 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 Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

. The bridge was returned in August, once refurbishment was complete.

Design

The barge was designed by Glowacki Engineering (GE). It is generally a single rake 400' x 100' deck cargo barge. However it features various significant internal structural enhancements to bear the loads imposed at the deck level by the crane at the boom foot, the mast, and the back stays. GE received those loads from ZPMC and modified their design to suit. Liftech Consultants assisted ABFJV with design review for the crane, including developing the technical specifications sent to ZPMC. The project received three Excellence in Structural Engineering awards: * 2010 Award of Excellence for Special-Use Structures, from the

Structural Engineers Association of Northern California The Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC) is a structural engineering association established in 1930. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California. Initially a club for structural engineers to exchange technical info ...

* 2010 Award of Merit for Special-Use Structures, from the Structural Engineers Association of California * 2011 Outstanding Project, from the

National Council of Structural Engineers Associations The National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA) is a professional association in the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country ...

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 long boom, weighing with a lift capacity. It is the largest barge crane ever used on the U.S. West Coast.

References

External links

* * * * {{cite web , author1=Rokeach, Barrie , author2=Hall, Bill , date=February–April 2010 , title=Historic Lift of Self-Anchored Suspension Span Sections for New Bay Bridge East Span , url=http://www.mtc.ca.gov/news/photos/obg_more.htm , publisher=Metropolitan Transportation Commission , access-date=12 February 2015 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213015901/http://www.mtc.ca.gov/news/photos/obg_more.htm , archive-date=13 February 2015 , url-status=dead 2009 ships Crane vessels Individual cranes (machines)