Each year the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) celebrates some of the highest, widest and sometimes ugliest loads hauled by drivers anywhere with its Hauling and Rigging Job of the Year Awards. The 2024 awards ceremony took place in April at SC&RA’s Annual Conference at the Omni Barton Creek, in Austin, Texas, where four members were honored for their “exceptional ingenuity, skill and commitment to safety.”
SC&RA members might have hauled some of the biggest objects ever moved by man, and this year provided no shortage of spectacular achievement.
[Related: Big loads, big equipment, big pay: Heavy/specialized hauling explored]
SC&RA members compete in weight classes, dollar amounts and events, including Hauling Job of the Year, Moving Job of the Year, and Rigging Job of the Year.
First up, the 2024 Hauling Job of the Year winner for the under 160,000 pounds class: Bragg Companies.
“From September 1, 2023 – October 31, 2023, Bragg Companies moved two colossal solid rocket boosters, weighing over 100,000 pounds each, from the Mojave Space Port to their new home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles,” SC&RA wrote.
Additional entries in this category included: Advanced Freight Dynamics, LLC; Frontier Heavy Haul & Support; and Palco Transportation LLC.
In the 160,000-500,000 pounds class, Omega Morgan, Inc., won with the heaviest loads in British Columbia, Canada’s history.
“From November 2020 – January 2023, Omega Morgan, Inc., transported six turbine runners 24′ 10″ wide and 13′ long, weighing in at 367,967 pounds each – the heaviest loads ever to cross British Columbia – more than 1,000 kilometers, from Prince Rupert to Northern British Columbia.”
Additional entries in this category included: Barnhart.
In the heavyweight division with a weight greater than 500,000 lbs. net, Transportes Muciño won.
From September 2022 – October 2023, Transportes Muciño handled the domestic and international transportation of turbines and generators, ranging from 44,000 lbs. to heavier than 705,000 lbs., from the Altamira and Progreso ports to sites in Guanajuato, San Luis Potosi and Yucatan.
Additional entries in this category included: BOSS Crane & Rigging, Heavy Haul Division.
Moving on to the next event, Moving Job of the Year, which Western Mechanical Electrical won with a monster bridge move.
From October 30, 2023 – November 11, 2023, Western Mechanical Electrical provided a transportation and delivery solution for a 220-ton pedestrian bridge, with an intact length of 42 meters, from the fabricator in Stoney Creek, Ontario, to the site in downtown Toronto where the bridge was set precisely into place without the use of overhead cranes, directly adjacent to historic Union Station.
Additional entries in this category included: Berard Transportation and Fagioli SPA.
Now for the 2024 Rigging Job of the Year winners, starting with the $150,000 and under class winner, Barnhart.
Barnhart removed and replaced two 100,000-pound steel mill spindles measuring 40’ by 6’ in diameter. The units required the installation to be on top of each other, and at an angle.
Additional entries in this category included: McNally-Nimergood Co.
For rigging jobs between $150,000-$750,000, Vanguard took the rigging trade back to it’s nautical roots with a massive ship move.
Vanguard completed a complex lifting operation to upright a barque rigged sailing vessel named the Europa, weighing 650 tons and measuring 44.5 meters long, 7.45 meters wide and lying at approximately 38 degrees to starboard after having shifted 1.2 meters off center of the keel dollies.
Additional entries in this category included: Barnhart, Clark Rigging, Fagioli SPA and Oxbo Mega Transport Solutions.
Barnhart won another title in the $750,000-$2 Million rigging job category with nearly half a million pounds of trains.
Barnhart assisted in the stacking, jack and sliding of two module trains, each measuring 65’ by 60’6” by 15’10”, and weighing 475,942 lbs.
Additional entries in this category included: Turner Industries.
Finally, in the Over $2 Million category, Barnhart yet again came out on top rigging up nearly a million pounds of gear.
Barnhart removed and replaced a damaged stator – measuring 34’7” by 14’8” by 15’5”, and weighing 719,580 lbs.
Additional entries in this category included: Fagioli SPA.