May 18, 2020 THE WATERWAYS JOURNAL THIRTY-ONE
Record Crane Assembly For E-Crane, Weeks Marine
By David Murray
Assembling an E-Crane usually takes anywhere from three to four weeks. But in a record-setting display of teamwork and virtuosity, a team of 10 people with members from both E-Crane and Weeks Marine took only six days to assemble two of them. The mechanical assembly was com- pleted at North American Aggregates, a division of Weeks Marine that has a per- mit to dredge sand off the lower New York Bay. The assembly team included four team members from E-Crane, four from Weeks Marine, a crane operator and su- pervisor. It benefitted from the use of Weeks Marine's #533 floating crane, the largest on the East Coast. The upper and lower sections were pre-assembled. In early June, when the hoppers/con- veyors/power supply are available, these machines will be used to unload the Weeks dredge Eleanor on a regular ba- sis. Weeks processes the sand ashore into materials for use in the construction industry. E-Crane CEO Steve Osborne had high praise for Weeks Marine's crews. He credits the swift assembly to proper prep- aration and a meshing of expertise. "Not all of our customers have the same level of experience with heavy lift as Weeks Marine does, especially from a floating platform," he said. "But Weeks is a specialist in heavy lift, like we are. They live and breathe it 24 hours a day." Expertise aside, Osborne credits the success of the operation to another factor. "We're both family-owned companies, and we attract employees for whom this work is a passion. We will work through hard times, from the CEOs down through the crews." It's the first E-Crane for Weeks, but the experience was so good that it proba- bly won't be the last. Osborne said Weeks is considering placing E-Cranes on sever- al other platforms. E-Crane assembly is completed at North American Aggregates in New Jersey.
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