Home | Engineering Services | Research | SC&RA Jobs of the Year | Publications | About David Duerr, P.E. (ret.)

SC&RA Jobs of the Year

The Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) each year holds a competition in which member companies vie for Job of the Year awards that recognize the performance of particularly challenging or unique lifting, rigging, and transportation operations. A book released at the SC&RA Annual Conference in April 2013 was developed by the KHL Group to commemorate the Job of the Year projects. 2DM Associates, Inc. provided engineering services on many Job of the Year entrants and winners over the years. Six award-winning projects are highlighted on this page, along with one winning project from David Duerr's "pre-2DM" days.


Jobs of the Year Book Cover

Monumental! from SC&RA and KHL Group

Monumental! is a book published by KHL Group Americas LLC in 2013 that commemorates five decades of Job of the Year award winners. The book features photographs and descriptions of every winner of the Job of the Year contests dating back to the first such award given in 1965.


Riggers & Constructors Pole Frame

Gin Poles Converted to a Lifting Frame

Award: 1991 Rigging Job of the Year

Contractor: Riggers & Constructors, Inc., Houston, Texas

Project: Reactor Vessel Installation

2DM Associates client: Riggers & Constructors, Inc.

The scope of this project was the transportation to site, upending, and setting of a 650-ton reactor vessel at a facility in Beaumont, Texas. The lift was performed with the lifting frame seen at left. The reactor was tailed with a 300-ton truck crane. The lifting frame was designed by 2DM Associates using Riggers & Constructors' existing gin poles. By incorporating the gin poles and related hardware, building this 1,000-ton capacity system became very competitive economically.


Installation of Something

Gantry System Lift Engineering

Award: 1999 Rigging Job of the Year

Contractor: Bragg Crane & Rigging Co., Long Beach, California

Project: Air Blower Replacement

2DM Associates client: Bragg Crane & Rigging Co.

Bragg Crane was contracted to replace an air blower unit at a Los Angeles-area refinery. The challenges to the project primarily involved working in extremely tight spaces. A combination of Lift Systems Model 44A and 4800 gantry legs along with project-specific header beams, skid beams, and other lifting appurtenances was used to remove the old blower and install the new unit. 2DM Associates provided equipment design and lift plan review services.


Transport of Furnace

Transport Equipment Engineering

Award: 1999 Hauling Job of the Year

Contractor: Barnhart Crane & Rigging Co., Memphis, Tennessee

Project: Relocation of a Refinery Heater

2DM Associates client: Barnhart Crane & Rigging Co.

The project called for the relocation of a heater structure, including its stack, within a Joliet, Illinois refinery. The normal process would be to dismantle the heater into manageable substructures and then reassemble it at its new location. Barnhart chose to move the 1.4-million-pound heater in one piece on dollies. 2DM Associates provided engineering services for the design of the dolly beam system and analysis of underground pipes along the haul route.


Strand Jack Lift of ESP

Strand Jack Lift of ESP

Electrostatic Precipitator Construction - Third-Party Review

Award: 2009 Moving Job of the Year

Contractor: Barnhart Crane & Rigging Co., Memphis, Tennessee

Project: Electrostatic Precipitator Transport and Set

2DM Associates client: ExxonMobil (owner)

A refinery in Torrance, California required the construction of an electrostatic precipitator (ESP). The ESP couldn't be constructed in place, so it was built in two sections elsewhere within the refinery. Barnhart lifted (with strand jacks) and moved (with platform trailers) the two 2,800-ton modules from the contruction site to their foundations. 2DM Associates provided independent reviews of the lift and transport engineering and plans on behalf of the owner.


Conveyor Lift

Lifting with a Barge-Mounted Hydraulic Gantry System

Award: 2010 Rigging Job of the Year

Contractor: Crane Rental Corporation, Orlando, Florida

Project: Conveyor Installation Over an Intake Canal

2DM Associates client: Crane Rental Corporation

A 150-foot long, 240,000-pound conveyor system was lifted into place using a J&R Engineering gantry system mounted on a free-floating barge. The conveyor section was stowed on the barge and the gantry system installed around it. Once positioned in the canal, the barge was moored and the gantry system used to lift the conveyor into place. 2DM Associates provided engineering for the design of the gantry system setup, analysis of the barge, and calculation of the barge hydrostatics and motions under the effects of the lift, wind, and currents.


Building Rotation

Relocation of an Historic Building - Third-Party Consultation

Award: 2010 Hauling Job of the Year

Contractor: Emmert International, Inc., Clackamas, Oregon

Project: Relocation of the Odd Fellows Hall

2DM Associates client: Layton Construction Company, Inc. (general contractor)

The Odd Fellows Hall is an historic building in Salt Lake City, built in 1893. Emmert International moved the building to a new site to clear the way for an expansion of the federal courthouse adjacent to the building's original location. 2DM Associates provided consultation on heavy hauling methods and engineering to the project's general contractor.


Building Rotation

Silo Transport using Hydraulic Platform Trailers

Award: 1980 Rigging Job of the Year

Contractor: Williams Crane & Rigging, Inc., Richmond, Virginia

Project: Relocation of a Fly Ash Silo

WC&R Client: Daniel Hamm Heavy Rigging & Transport Company

The planning and engineering for this project were performed while David Duerr was Chief Engineer of Williams Crane & Rigging. The project called for the lifting, transport, and setting of a 90'-3" tall fly ash silo within a power plant site near St. Louis using side-by-side hydraulic platform trailers. As a side note, this was the first time that Mr. Duerr worked on a project with Gary Lorenz, then president of Daniel Hamm, who went on to found hydraulic gantry manufacturers Riggers Manufacturing Company and 4-Point Lift Systems, Inc.


Copyright © 2DM Associates, Inc. 2019. All rights reserved.

As of October 1, 2019, 2DM Associates, Inc. is no longer providing professional engineering services.