TNT Crane & Rigging Inc., headquartered in Houston, is one of the largest crane service providers in North America. For over 33 years, the company has provided safe, innovative lifting services to customers, with the simple goal "to be the benchmark by which others are judged in the heavy lift and transport industry."
Hurricane Harvey
Each year in BIC's September issue, TNT provides an update on events from the past year and a view of the future. Last year, the story was issued just after Hurricane/ Tropical Storm Harvey devastated the Texas Gulf Coast. The TNT family was not immune to the storm's cruel impact.
Although none of the TNT South Texas Branch offices were adversely affected, 36 employee homes from Ingleside to Beaumont, Texas, were directly affected by the storm. This ranged from floor and sheet rock damage on the lower end, to the complete loss and subsequent demolition of homes on the other. In the week following the storm, TNT had 70-90 people working in multiple crews on employees' homes, removing debris, demolishing walls and floors, and cleaning what could be saved. When the work was done at employee homes, the crews would work on employee relatives' homes next. When that was done, they worked on friends' homes. Employees were also out helping in other ways, from volunteering at food banks to helping clean up communities and performing high-water rescue during the flooding event, often in dangerous situations. Many employees opened their homes to displaced relatives, friends, neighbors and, in some cases during the event, complete strangers.
The outpouring of support across South Texas was truly amazing; however, the story doesn't end there. TNT branches unaffected by the storm collected donations of recovery items such as clothing and daily essentials and sent them to the South Texas branches. Donations were also collected and sent to charities in the region.
Immediately after the storm, the company set up a 501(c)(3) charitable organization called "The TNT Relief Fund." The fund collected monetary donations to provide financial assistance to the affected families. Monetary donations were received from TNT employees, owners, other crane companies and private citizens. The fund has made grants to replace personal belongings, purchase labor and materials for home repairs, cover deductibles on houses with insurance, and cover temporary housing and partial home rebuilds where there were large shortfalls from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other types of available assistance.
A majority of the families affected are back in their homes. The outpouring of support from friends through thoughts, prayers and donations, and the reaction of the employees receiving help at their homes and financial assistance, was hard to describe. There was sadness and grief from the loss of homes and personal belongings, and despair from facing the hardship of rebuilding a home and a life. But there was also the satisfaction from a job well done, a deep appreciation of friendship, the pride of resiliency, the respect of the communities and spirit. Many at TNT say the event was an uplifting experience in many ways.
Million-pound moment
This past January, team members from the TNT Crawler Crane Division, the San Antonio branch and several other TNT branches completed a series of lifts for Ames Construction to remove and replace the old Medina River bridge in Von Ormy, Texas, located just south of San Antonio. The old bridge consisted of five sections, with the largest section weighing 270,000 pounds. The new bridge also had five sections: Four weighed 245,000 pounds each, and the fifth, also the largest, weighed just over 1 million pounds.
Union Pacific, the owner, allowed a 24-hour window in its schedule to complete the entire process. Two cranes were used for the lift: a DEMAG CC-2800-1 in SSL configuration and a Manitowoc 18000. Significant engineering and design work was required to overcome the ground condition challenges and limited access at the site. Extensive matti
ng and a temporary bridge were constructed to enable the cranes to be built and properly positioned.
This project exemplified the extraordinary team effort by all involved and illustrates the ingenuity and creativity needed to make such a challenging project a success! In the end, the team accomplished all goals without incident and completed ahead of schedule. The lift of the million-pound section was the largest crane lift in TNT's history!
Visit TNT Crane's YouTube channel to see the video of the million-pound moment.
Expansion and innovation
TNT continues to expand both its crane and tower crane fleets. The company commissioned a third 900-ton Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1 crane. This machine finds utility in all industrial and energy markets, with a special niche in the wind energy industry. An additional 1,700 tons of capacity will be added to the crane fleet by year's end. This new capacity will help support the oil and gas industry and downstream markets. And finally, TNT family member RMS Cranes increased the tower cranes in its fleet to 48 units.
The TNT Specialty Rigging Division recently introduced an Enerpac EVO System that uses synchronous lifting technology for lifting, lowering, weight alignment and load transfer. With an 800-ton in-house capacity, it can also certify weights and determine center of gravity.
Once again, TNT participated in the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association's "Rigging Job of the Year" competition held in April 2018. This year's entry was in the "Rigging Jobs -- Over $2 Million" category and featured a critical lift using two of TNT's Liebherr LR1350 (400-ton) crawler cranes and a Prime Mover with 16 lines of THP Goldhofer trailers. In 2017, the Phillips 66 Ponca City refinery in Oklahoma began an upgrade of the No. 1 crude unit, which included replacing two heaters with one new unit. The new heater would later be delivered and installed in six sections ranging in weight from 81,000-425,000 pounds. TNT provided comprehensive project management and in-plant heavy haul and crane support for the project. The Incident & Injury-Free® approach was the foundation for zero losttime accidents as over 500,000 man-hours were logged by the TNT team.
TNT continues to lead the way in expanding and innovating, showing its customers why it's "Lifting America to a Higher Standard."
For more information, visit www. tntcrane.com or call (800) 799-2505.
TNT Crane merges with Allison Crane
Permian and Appalachian basin activities expanding
TNT Crane & Rigging Inc. has merged with Allison Crane & Rigging, a full-service mobile crane provider that primarily serves the Utica and Marcellus shale basins from Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and the Permian basin from Pecos, Texas.
TNT has furthered its presence as a national lifting services provider, expanding its geographic and oil and gas operations to include the prolific shale resources of Pennsylvania and the Permian's Delaware Basin. TNT operates approximately 700 cranes through 44 branches across North America and provides full-service capabilities utilizing its portfolio of all-terrain, truck-mounted, rough-terrain, crawler and tower cranes, mobile gantries and rigging solutions with lifting capacities ranging from three tons up to 900 tons.
TNT CEO Michael Appling Jr. stated, "TNT's partnership with Allison demonstrates our company's commitment to leadership in the crane and rigging industry and further strengthens our position and market share supporting the nation's oil and natural gas resource development."
