Weeks 533 Explained

Weeks 533 is a 5000NaN0 capacity Clyde Iron Works model 52 barge-mounted crane which is the largest revolving floating crane on the East Coast of the United States.^[1] It was originally ordered for bridge construction and has since been used in several notable heavy lifts.

History

The floating barge-crane, originally named Marine Boss, was built for Murphy Pacific Marine. The barge was assembled by Zidell Explorations from scrapped ship steel in Oregon^[2] in 1966 and fitted in San Francisco with a heavy 500-ton revolving crane made by Clyde Iron Works^[3] to perform the heavy girder and deck-section lifts for construction of the 1967 San Mateo-Hayward Bridge.^{[4] [5]} At the time it was the largest barge crane in the western United States.^[6]

In the 1970s, Marine Boss was sold to J. Ray McDermott & Co., who had introduced the first 500-ton floating cranes for offshore platform construction in 1965^[7] and were operating a similar fleet of barge-cranes under the McDermott Derrick Barge (DB) class.^[8] McDermott would later sell it for scrap in 1988 to Weeks Marine in New Jersey,^[9] who renamed it the Weeks 533 and refurbished it from 1997-2000. Weeks 533 is considered the flagship of the Weeks fleet.^[10]

One of the tugboats returning Weeks 533 from Albany to New Jersey collided with the moored 750t crane barge N181 (aka Hank Hummel) near the Tappan Zee Bridge at night in heavy fog on 12 March 2016. That tug, the Specialist, subsequently sank, killing all three sailors.^{[11] [12]} Although the mate, who was at the helm of Specialist, initially jumped clear from the stricken tug onto N181, he returned to help free a trapped crewmate and all hands aboard subsequently drowned.^[13]

Capacity

The Clyde Iron Works Model 52-DE crane^[14] can lift 500ST using the main hoist on a 2100NaN0 boom at any point in the crane's revolution; capacity rises to 600ST when using the main hoist oriented astern. The capacity of the middle lift is 150 000 lbs, of the small lift on the top of the boom is 50 000 lbs. Motive power for the main hoist is provided by a Caterpillar 3412 V-12 diesel engine, and electric power for the barge is provided by a Caterpillar 3406 I-6 diesel generator set.

Bridges built

• Rio Vista Bridge replacement span (1967)^[15]
• San Mateo–Hayward Bridge (1967)^[16]
• San Diego–Coronado Bridge (1969)
• Queensway Twin Bridges (1971),^[17] near at the Port of Long Beach
• Fremont Bridge (Portland) (1973)^[18]

Notable heavy lifts

• UGM-73 Poseidon missile test facility structural members at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard (1967)^[19]
• SEALAB III, off the coast of San Clemente Island (1969)^[20]
• Pier protection system for the Tappan Zee Bridge (2000)^[21]
• Cleanup of the World Trade Center in New York City from the September 11 attacks (2001), moored below 55 Water Street.
• The capsized MV Stellamare at the Port of Albany–Rensselaer (2003, as a team with Donjon's Chesapeake 1000)^{[22] [23]}
• The downed Airbus A320 hull of US Airways Flight 1549 (2009) from the Hudson River
• Concorde G-BOAD on Pier 86 (2008)^[24] and Enterprise (2012)^[25] onto the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum^{[26] [27]}
• The old main span of the East 78th Street pedestrian bridge and the replacement span (2011–2012) over FDR Drive.^{[28] [29]}
• The replacement New York–New Jersey Rail Greenville Yard transfer bridge (2013) in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.^[30]
• Steel jacket foundations for Block Island Wind Farm (2015).^{[31] [32] [33]}
• Salvage of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge and MV Dali from the Port of Baltimore (2024, as a team with Donjon's Chesapeake 1000).^[34]

External links

• Web site: Weeks 533 . Weeks Marine . 15 January 2015 .
• Pictures of Weeks 533 in dry dock
• A seaside make over . Fronda, Jeanne . Leykam, Chris . 2007 . Pile Driver . 4 . 4 . 46–51 . 18 January 2015 .
• Web site: Big Cranes Continuation Page 1 – Weeks Marine . Berliner III, S. . 15 March 2014 . 3 February 2015 . SBIII .
• Web site: Weeks 533 . . Shipspotting . 3 February 2015 .
• Web site: Lifting Flight 1549 from the Hudson . Young, John . 17 January 2009 . Cryptome . 3 February 2015 .
• News: Pilot landed in Hudson to avoid 'catastrophic consequences' . . 18 January 2009. CNN . 3 February 2015 .
• Web site: The Unlikely Events of a Water Landing: New Photos From Flight 1549 . Shechmeister, Matthew . 13 May 2009 . Wired . 9 July 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130102023332/http://www.wired.com/culture/art/news/2009/05/gallery_flight_1549?currentPage=3 . 2 January 2013 . dead .

Notes and References

1. River Rescue . DuPont, Dale K. . WorkBoat . 1 December 2009 . 15 January 2015.
2. Web site: Zidell Marine, Portland OR . 27 August 2014 . Colton, Tim . Shipbuilding History . 5 February 2015 .
3. Book: The H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, 1966–1976 . Newell, Gordon R . Maritime Events of 1966 . 1976 . Superior Publishing . Seattle . 978-0875642208 .
4. California Orthotropic Bridge Bus Tour . Mangus, Alfred R. . 30 August 2008 . Orthotropic Bridge Conference . Sacramento, California . 15 January 2015 .
5. News: ADVERTISEMENT: Murphy Pacific Bridge Builders . . 19 October 1967 . The Times . San Mateo . 5 February 2015 .
6. Web site: Fact Sheet: San Diego – Coronado Bridge Seismic Retrofit Project . . March 1999 . California Department of Transportation . 6 February 2015 .
7. History — 1960s — Expanded Reach . . McDermott International . 6 February 2015 .
8. Web site: McDermott derrick barge no. 17 . Levingston Photography . Portal to Texas History . 3 February 2015 .
9. New life for the Marine Boss . . 2 January 2001 . Cranes Today . 15 January 2015 .
10. On Assignment: Heavy lift, salvage and marine transportation . . January 2012 . Weeks Marine Journal . 5 February 2015 .
11. Tugboat hits barge and sinks at NY bridge construction site, killing 3 . Bleyer, Bill . 27 May 2016 . Professional Mariner . 25 July 2016.
12. Web site: In re complaint of Weeks Marine, Inc. . McNulty, Kevin . No. 16-cv-1463 (KM)(JBC) . 14 June 2016 . casetext . 25 July 2016.
13. Collision and Subsequent Sinking of Towing Vessel Specialist, Marine Accident Brief DCA16FM033 . 12 March 2016 . National Transportation Safety Board . 20 August 2017.
14. Web site: "Weeks 533" General Arrangement and Elevation Chart . Patel, Jitendra . 19 February 2004 . Weeks Marine . 3 February 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160313035048/http://www.weeksmarine.com/docs/default-source/Equipments/Heavy-Lift/533-general-arrangements.pdf?sfvrsn=0 . 13 March 2016 . live.
15. News: Closure Set For Bridge At Rio Vista. . 3 June 1967 . Lodi News-Sentinel . 6 February 2015 .
16. Web site: Orthotropic Bridges in the U.S.A. Built from 1960-2003 . Mangus, Alfred R. . Orthotropic Bridge Conference . 2004 . 18 January 2015 .
17. News: Queen's Way Bridge Fast Taking Shape . . 10 August 1969 . Independent Press-Telegram . Long Beach . 6 February 2015 .
18. Book: Bridges of Portland . Bottenberg, Ray . 2007 . 112–113 . Arcadia Publishing . Charleston, South Carolina . 978-0-7385-4876-0 . 2006935600 . 18 January 2015 .
19. Test facility modifications for Poseidon . Venturino, Marco F. . March–April 1967 . The Navy Civil Engineer . 8 . 2 . 18–19 . 3 January 2020.
20. Web site: 1960s: The Marine Boss crane lowers SEALAB III, an underwater habitat, into the ocean around San Clemente Island, California, and United States Navy divers inspect it, in 1969. . Shutterstock . 3 January 2020.
21. Web site: Tappan Zee Bridge - Main Channel Pier Protection . Weeks Marine . 25 February 2018.
22. News: Second generator pulled from ship . Foss, Sara . 31 December 2003 . The Daily Gazette . Schenectady . 5 February 2015 .
23. News: Three dead as heavy-lift ship capsizes while loading generator . Aichele, Richard O. . 28 February 2007 . Professional Mariner . 5 February 2015 .
24. News: Concorde lands at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum for Nov. 8 re-opening . Townsend, Matt . 20 October 2008 . New York Daily News . 5 February 2015 .
25. Enterprise to Intrepid . Dicht, Burton . October 2012 . Mechanical Engineering . American Society of Mechanical Engineers . 36–41.
26. World's most famous crane? Shuttle move shines spotlight on Weeks . Gauvin, Brian . 22 August 2012 . Professional Mariner . 15 January 2015 .
27. News: Space shuttle Enterprise is the latest historic vessel picked up by legendary Jersey City crane . Rose, Lisa . 6 June 2012 . New Jersey Star-Ledger . 15 January 2015 .
28. Web site: Reconstruction of East 78th Street Bridge . . August 2011 . Gandhi Engineering . 5 February 2015 .
29. Web site: Client Favorites: Teresa Kruszewski . . October 2011 . American Society of Media Photographers . 5 February 2015 .
30. Super Storm Sandy Aftermath: Weeks Marine Clean Up and Relief Efforts . . Winter 2013 . Weeks Marine Journal . 5 February 2015 .
31. News: Giant crane arrives off Block Island to install first foundation for offshore wind farm . Kuffner, Alex . 18 July 2015 . Providence Journal . 14 November 2016.
32. News: First foundation for Deepwater wind farm installed off Block Island . Kuffner, Alex . 26 July 2015 . Providence Journal . 14 November 2016.
33. News: IN PICTURES: US offshore wind puts its first steel in the water . Stromsta, Karl-Erik . 28 July 2015 . Recharge . 14 November 2016.
34. Web site: Jackson . Jerry . 2024-03-31 . Sunday work around the Key Bridge . 2024-04-03 . . en-US.