Volume 8 Issue 5
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 $5.00
NEWS
INFRASTRUCTURE GROWTH
Port Saint John to expand crane capacity
File photo by Keith Norbury
Two new Paceco cranes have been erected at Port Saint John as part of a modernization project designed to increase the port’s capacity.
B.C. court ruling puts new slant on the airspace rights of cranes.
B.C. court ruling throws curve into air rights for crane booms Modernization ort Saint John is already the largest cruise port of call project to break P fourth in Canada and a national and port, handling liquid ground in 2018 international and dry bulk, as well as break bulk. M AT T J O N E S
However, a planned modernization project due to break ground in 2018 will drastically increase the port’s capacity. Ahead of the main thrust of the modernization, two new cranes
have been erected which will allow the New Brunswick port to serve larger loads from larger ships. Andrew Dixon, senior vicepresident of trade and business development for the Saint John Port Authority says that due to the evolution of the market, a modernization was necessary to even maintain their current level of business, let alone to expand it. continued on page 8
D E L I C AT E W O R K
Liebherr maneuvers Operator keeps his cool 200-ton chiller into Windsor office during Ontario HVAC lift building Photo courtesy of Mikhail Holdings
S AU L C H E R N O S
tight work space and high winds posed a dual challenge for a crew installing a giant air conditioning system in downtown Windsor, Ont. The old chiller inside the 14-storey CIBC building at Ouellette Avenue and Riverside Drive suffered electrical damage from a power surge in March, and property owner Mikhail Holdings opted to replace rather than repair the 45-year-old unit. “It was working perfectly but it wasn’t efficient,” Mikhail Holdings’ facility manager Ron Nugent told Crane & Hoist Canada. “The new one will save us quite a bit on energy.” The project to replace the chiller and rooftop water tower cost nearly $900,000, including materials, hoisting equipment and professional services. Johnson Controls provided its own branded chiller and a Marley cooling tower, which Peter Goring, project foreman with Johnson, described as fairly standard equipment.
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Entering an airspace not necessarily trespassing, judge rules S AU L C H E R N O S
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ourt decisions pertaining to construction cranes and air rights are few and far between in Canada. Developers wanting to swing over-top a neighbour’s property generally reach an agreement with them. However, negotiations don’t always succeed. Sometimes crane swing disputes end up before a judge. Legal eagles are scrutinizing a British Columbia Supreme Court ruling last year that appears to toss a curve into the generally held view that trespass laws tend to apply in such cases. In 2016, Concost Management was constructing a fourstorey building on 120th Street
in Surrey, B.C. However, as happens frequently in crowded areas, the builder wanted to swing its crane over an adjacent two-storey shopping plaza and its parking lot.
Negotiations stalled, injunction sought According to court documents, negotiations between Concost and Janda Group Holdings, the plaza owner, appeared to have stalled. The court’s decision to deny Janda’s request for an injunction — www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdbtxt/sc/16/15/2016BCSC1503. htm — indicates a proposed reciprocal agreement would have offered Janda similar swing continued on page 7
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