In 2016, the Panama Canal was revamped to facilitate the transit of larger vessels which started a trend enabling giant container ships from Asia to bring their goods to the North American East Coast.
America harbours
However, this trend has caused major worry for the American harbors which now have to accommodate these large ships. The port in Wilmington, recently received two gigantic cranes in order to expand the size of its docks.
Power lines pose serious hazard
The river leading to the port comprises of a series of power lines, and the ship carrying the cranes was too tall to go underneath them. In order to ensure the ship made it to the harbor safely, Duke Energy—the owner of the power lines—had to engage in some unique modifications to those lines.
Duke Energy Transmission Project Manager John Taylor said, “We went through a couple of different evolutions of [possible] solutions before we arrived on the [final] one. We were considering using a helicopter to pick up the line, but we ruled that out for safety reasons”.
The team also considered using a barge to hold up the line from below, but abandoned that idea once it became clear there was not enough space in the river.
Hoisting of power lines
Finally, the company settled for a simpler solution by climbing the giant towers holding up the lines, attaching hoists to the upper levels of the tower, and raising the lines to additional 10 feet.
Mr. Taylor added, “As far as I know, we started from scratch. There is a third crane in the works”.
But this is not a final solution, the company has to plan out alternatives that provide a permanent solution rather than temporary ones.
Did you subscribe for our daily newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe!
Source: Popular Mechanics
