Teamwork at Barnhart Meets Heavy Haul Challenges
It was a heavy haul eight years in the making. Although the most recent phase of the project occurred last year, it began in 2016 when the Mount Vernon, Washington, branch of heavy lift and heavy transport provider Barnhart received four 420,000-pound ship motors and put them in storage at the Port of Seattle. The motors remained there until they were resold in early 2024.
At that point, Barnhart teams from the company’s Mount Vernon and Los Angeles branches removed the motors from storage and transported them via barge to the Port of Olympia, where they were staged and prepped for over-the-road transport to Centralia, Washington.
Throughout the process, Barnhart had to meet strict requirements set by the Washington State Department of Transportation. For the over-the-road haul, the company designed, fabricated and load-tested specialized shipping frames to meet height and weight restrictions. The frames were secured with Barnhart’s adjustable rigging link system to achieve the required ride height.
For transport, Barnhart used an 11-by-11 GS-800 trailer combination, which was more than 372 feet long with a gross weight just over 960,000 pounds. It was the longest permitted load ever in Washington state and the longest ever within Barnhart.
The GS-800 Girder Transport System was designed and manufactured in-house and is the flagship of Barnhart’s Heavy Transport Division. The system, which can be assembled, disassembled and operated with a crew of three to four people, does not require cranes for assembly.
The GS-800 adjusts to accommodate wide loads and features girders with roughly five feet of vertical lift to raise and lower the load. The transport system has been static-load tested up to 975,000 pounds and incorporates Barnhart-designed dual-lane running gear for maximum permit payloads.
The GS-800 also has self-steering with an integrated tracking device, axle spacing compliant with West Coast transportation regulations and bolsters for maximum maneuverability. It can transport cargo in reverse to avoid obstacles and can travel to a jobsite as a complete trailer system requiring only a forklift for final assembly or be transported in two sections.
For the four ship motor hauls, Barnhart teams worked with city, state and county authorities to map out a 45-mile route through the I-5 corridor. Although there were initial concerns about leaving the Port of Olympia, Barnhart’s Los Angeles team developed a solution. They backed the trailer out of the port nearly 1.5 miles, removed a single tree and navigated a residential area to reach the interstate.
Headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, family-owned Barnhart is one of the largest heavy lift and heavy transport organizations in North America. In less than one month, two Barnhart teams successfully completed the four ship motor moves without any incidents or recordable injuries.
