Ensure Safe Delivery of Port Gantry Cranes

Challenge: Three distinct vessel arrivals from China carrying deck cargos of five new super-post-Panamax cranes for the Port of Philadelphia, whose air drafts all exceeded the typical air gap of two interstate bridge structures across the Delaware River and whose horizontal clearances required advanced planning to avoid meeting other vessels in constrained areas.

Solution: Collaborate with diverse group of project partners and stakeholders, synthesize inputs and entity-specific requirements to create dynamic transit plan for each passage. Plans evolved frequently based on weather, project timelines, and stakeholder requirements. Coordinated with USCG, Pilots, multi-state bridge owner entities, berth facility, tug company, crane manufacturer, National Weather Service, and vessel representatives on the 90-mile transits upriver to PhilaPort, requiring safe transit under two major interstate highway bridges. Identified critical clearances, variables that could reduce bridge clearance, calculated precise timing for optimal bridge clearances, created corresponding inbound/outbound transit plans, and ensured all parties understood and supported transit plans which required the complete closure of both bridges to vehicle traffic during the transits and a moving safety zone on the river.