BNSF moves mammoth crane from Houston port to Oklahoma refinery

Earlier this summer, BNSF Railway Co. began the process of moving a large industrial crane from the Port of Houston to Ponca City, Okla., where it will be used at a Phillips 66 refinery for six to eight weeks in fall to replace two massive coke drums used in oil refining.

Designed by heavy lifting equipment manufacturer Mammoet, the 4,000-ton crane is one of the world's largest module cranes — so large it takes two months to build and another two months to disassemble, railroad officials said in an item posted on the "BNSF News" web page. The crane's boom length is 587 feet, twice the height of the Statue of Liberty.

The crane was transported in 200 20- and 40-foot intermodal units, including flat racks, open top/side containers and closed containers. Some of the crane superstructure's 40-foot sections doubled as open containers during transport. Most of the containers were transported in intermodal well cars, although some required heavy-duty flat cars.

Conference calls involving at least 20 departments were conducted to arrange and prepare for the move.

"Our biggest challenge was trying to put a new transport situation into practice fairly quickly," said Sean Stacey, BNSF's marketing manager-industrial products. "This move was unlike any other we have managed. We were required to think outside the box when we already had a learning curve."

A continued partnership with Mammoet might result in fine-tuning the transport process and potentially could lead to moving similar machinery up to five times per year, he said.

"Any time we can make rail work for a customer is another chance for us to grow the business and keep more trucks off the road," said Stacey.