Over one year in the making

Barnhart Crane and Rigging is in the business of moving some serious weight – we’re talking hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The Memphis-based heavy rigging and hauling company has been awarded the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association’s job of the year multiple times and received corporate safety recognition from the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association as well as the Association of General Contractors, among others.

For Barnhart, it all starts with planning, lots and lots of planning.

Not to mention an incredible amount of coordination with local and state officials as well as other specialized companies.

Barnhart demonstrated just that in transporting a 600,000-pound kiln from the Port of New Orleans to the Veolia Thermal Hazardous Waste Treatment Operation in Gum Springs, Ark.

A job that required more than one year of planning and six days of travel to complete.

“Initially, we were approached by Veolia to provide a price for inland transportation,” Tim Fielder, Barnhart senior project sales representative, said. “We had to coordinate receiving the kiln at the Port of New Orleans and get it as far as we could by water, then determine the best route to Gum Springs.”

Within this planning was a hydrographic study of the Ouachita River, which hadn’t been traveled by a commercial vessel in more than a decade, Fielder said.

“We had to document the (Ouachita) river’s depth to find out what the lowest its conditions could be and still be a viable transport option,” Fielder said. “An extensive amount of bridge analysis and coordination with law enforcement was also necessary. The big deal on this job was the height with all the electrical wires and trees.”

Planning and analysis were followed by route determination by land.

That route started on May 10 on U.S. Highway 82 at Crossett Port and included stops in El Dorado, Stephens, Rosston, Prescott and Gurdon in consecutive days. The trip was completed on May 15 when the kiln reached its final destination in Gum Springs.

Traveling at a rate of speed between 5 and 20 mph, numerous road closures were required as was the removal of 170 miles of tree limbs along the route. In addition, arrangements were made with public and private landowners.

The Arkansas Department of Transportation, Linetec and VersaBucket were key in facilitating this aspect of the transport.

“It was a great haul and went off picture perfect, we made all the stops according to schedule and had no damage to our property or public property,” Fielder said. “Lela Cook went far beyond her daily duty to keep the project moving in the right direction. Mike Calhoun and Brian Caldwell with ARDOT District 3 and 7, did a great job working with Arkansas Sign and Barricade to develop a route control plan. Capt. Ross H. Baston and his officers did a fantastic job of keeping the public, linemen and my guys safe.”

Linetec, which had as many as nine bucket trucks in use, did a fantastic job handling phone, communication and electric lines, while VersaBucket was in charge of signs and traffic signals, and did a great job as well, Fielder said.

“It takes a village, and we had a great group of people,” Fielder said. “This was a four-county move. Sheriff’s departments and emergency management offices in Ouachita, Union, Nevada and Clark counties all participated in making sure the transport was performed per the plan and safely. The city of Prescott helped tremendously with security and police protection.”

Over one year of planning notwithstanding, any haul – especially one of this magnitude – isn’t without the unforeseen curveball.

According to Fielder, height was a major concern because of the amount of utility wires. Barnhart also had to adjust its transporter from a 16-foot-wide gauge to a 20-foot-wide gauge.

All in all, it was business as usual for Fielder and the Barnhart crew.

In fact, when Land Line spoke with him, the company was on to the next job of hauling an 800,000-pound generator from Las Vegas to Utah.

The numbers may seem staggering, but as their website says, “If you can dream it, Barnhart can make it a reality.” LL