Volume 9 Issue 5
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 $5.00
TRAINING
INFRASTRUCTURE
A tale of love and heavy lifting
Port of Saint John expansion underway
Newfoundland couple graduates mobile crane course together B Y M AT T J O N E S
ewfoundlanders Derek Tucker and Gina Jesso first found love together, now they’ve found a career path together as well. The couple attended and graduated from the College of the North Atlantic’s (CNA) Mobile Crane Operator program at the Bay St. George campus in Stephenville, Nfld. Now, they’ve relocated to Grand Prairie, Alta., to start a new life in their chosen field. “We’re both outdoors people,” says Tucker. “We love camping, we go hiking, we walk, we do whatever it takes to be outside, and that’s where I met her. I went for a ride on a dirt bike one day and she was camping by herself and we got talking, and here we are.” Jesso says she was initially looking at pursuing a general heavy equipment training path, but, much like meeting Tucker, another random encounter changed things. “I bumped into a couple of friends of mine who did the course and they steeped my curiosity,” says Jesso. “I just thought it was really interesting and I wanted to experience it.”
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< Derek Tucker and Gina Jesso continued on page 6
D E L I C AT E W O R K
Hoisting in downtown Toronto? Advance planning is key B Y S AU L C H E R N O S
continued on page 10
BY ANDREW SNOOK
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ork on Port Saint John’s modernization project is underway with the initial tenders for the project released this summer. The massive project will expand the port’s annual container yard handling capacity from 125,000 TEU to 330,000 TEU. The project will also allow the port’s rail handling capacity to grow exponentially from 75,000 TEU to 330,000 TEU. In 2010 the then new CEO of Port Saint John, Jim Quinn, recognized that in order to remain in the container business, the Port would have to modernize its facilities in order to keep up with the rapid changes that were occurring in that sector. “Containers are an important business for Port Saint John, and it was clear we needed to have facilities that could handle lager vessels,” Quinn said. “This lead to the planning of the West Side Modernization Project which gained the support of the federal and provincial governments. Together we will equally fund the $250 million project that will be completed by 2023.” continued on page 8
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hen it comes to hoisting HVAC and other heavy rooftop components onto downtown Toronto office towers, the lifts themselves take just a day or two. What makes it all work, however, is months of planning. A case in point: In late May, Amherst Crane Rentals placed mechanical equipment atop a 22-storey building on Yonge Street, between Adelaide and Richmond streets, in the heart of downtown Toronto’s business core. With a 15,000-lb. cooling tower the heaviest lift, and a relatively narrow area to work from, Amherst brought in one of its heavyweights — a 500-ton Liebherr LTM 1400 all-terrain crane.
Initial tenders released for modernization project
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An Amherst Crane Rentals employee rigging a frame with a belt choker. Photo: Saul Chernos