Barnhart Crane and Rigging - Reactor Salvage | Cherry Point, WA

On December 9th, a 485 ton, 140 foot long stainless steel reactor vessel rolled off a barge into approximately 60 feet of water off Cherry Point, WA. One end rested on the sea floor, with the other end, just breaking the surface. Immediately after the incident, Global provided an ROV to inspect the vessel for damage and asses its orientation on bottom. It was determined that there was no structural damage.

Global was contracted to develop, implement and manage the salvage. Over the next two weeks, working closely with Barnhart Crane and Rigging, their engineers and the owner, a detailed salvage plan was developed to safely lift the reactor from the water and deliver it back to the owner aboard a barge into cradles that were mounted to a transporter for offloading and movement to its final location. Two marine construction companies, General Construction and Manson Construction provided heavy lift derrick barges to lift the reactor and set it back onto the barge.

Divers were utilized to perform a thorough inspection of the structure as well as expose the lifting eye on the bottom edge of the vessel. When all of the plans had been approved and the required assets were in place, divers connected a 400 ton shackle to the lifting eye. The derrick barges, working in tandem at the direction of David DeVilbiss, Salvage Master for Global Diving & Salvage, Inc, lifted the reactor to the surface. It was raised out of the water, the barge positioned underneath and set into the cradles on the transporter.

The reactor is a integral piece of a refinery upgrade, assisting in the manufacture of low sulfur diesel fuel. The vessel was filled with nitrogen to prevent corrosion during transportation.