A refinery in Ohio had a problem. A 50-foot-long electrical shelter building had to be transported a half mile from one side of the plant to the other. However, numerous overhead obstacles prevented a traditional transport. Barnhart had worked with the refinery’s sister facility, so they were called in and challenged with determining a safe way to transport the 14‘ x 12.5’ x 50’ shelter building under eight pipe racks, with the lowest overhead clearance at 15’ 2“ from grade.
Barnhart constructed a custom lifting and transport frame using a combination of Barnhart 16” and 8” deep slide beams. The frame was supported in four locations using 8” x 4” tube steel. The tubes were affixed to the bottoms of the beams using sandwich plating and all-thread. The frame was shackled to two 120k Rigger Lift masts with rigging lugs and rigging chain.
The two Rigger Lifts worked in tandem to transport the cargo through the plant. The overall transport height of the frame was 14’ 6 ½”, which meant there was a mere six inches of clearance under the lowest rack.
The move took roughly half a shift, and the work was performed while the plant was operational. Once the last obstacle was navigated, the shelter was offloaded with the Rigger Lifts to elevated piers. The project was executed successfully and on time.