Baltimore Hydraulics, Inc. was awarded the bid to replace the crane on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers vessel, Reynolds.

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Debris Removal Unit in Baltimore, MD operates the Reynolds out of the Fort McHenry Yard. They are tasked with removing debris that can damage vessels in the Patapsco River and its tributaries. They were using a HIAB SeaCrane 200 that was mounted to the bow of the boat, and they were having continuous problems with the crane because of its age. The decision came that it would be more economical to replace the crane with a new one, instead of refurbishing the HIAB crane.

Baltimore Hydraulics, is a dealer for FASCAN International, who is the distributor for FASSI cranes in the USA. When picking out a crane equivalent to the existing crane on the Reynolds, we chose the FASSI F245A, with several options. The customer wanted wireless controls, a winch, an automatic lubrication system, and for the crane to be marine grade (marine paint, stainless steel hardware and fittings). All of these requests were easily added onto the Fassi crane.

The actual removal of the old crane and installation of the new FASSI crane was mostly completed dockside at the Fort McHenry Yard. When the old crane was ready to be removed from the Reynolds we used McLean Contacting’s, Baltimore Yard. McLean Contracting has 1,150 feet of deep water bulkhead on Curtis Creek. We used one of McLean’s several cranes to pick the old crane off, and the new FASSI crane on to the Reynolds. We were able to accomplish this in a few hours. Once the new crane was secured to the Reynolds, we went back to the Fort McHenry Yard for the final hook up of the FASSI crane.

The final hook up required a new hydraulic pump, new lines, and the manual controls to be mounted on a remote pedestal. All of these items were completed in a few weeks, and then the Reynolds was ready to go to work with their new FASSI crane. The new crane was easier to operate with wireless controls, and had a much smoother operation which allowed them to have better control over the crane. When the crew started working with the new crane they were very happy with everything.