A heavily corroded 180-foot ship to shore crane was demolished last week in a rare crane toppling event in San Juan.
"The crane needed to be demolished as it was heavily corroded and SSA International (a stakeholder of the port in San Juan) decided that the quickest way for this to happen would be to go down the unusual demolition route of toppling, rather than the more conventional; taken apart piece by piece," said a press release from Global Rigging and Transport (GRT).
"To bring down a crane of this magnitude down requires careful planning. GRT engineers had to calculate where to cut, blast and pull the crane so that it's falling could be controlled," it said.
Essential to any crane toppling is the creation of the "drop zone", which is the area where the crane falls. In the picture below you can see the installation of gravel on the ground, strategically placed to cushion the fall and to reduce damage to the container yard.
A project of this size is not without it's complications. But due to the teamwork and cooperation between GRT and SSA International, all issues were addressed and promptly resolved; thus ensuring the project was executed safely, on time and within budget.
After the event Dave Michou, President at SSA International said: "It was...gratifying to see GRT's successful demolition of CMI #6. All went safely just as planned and on schedule."