Berard uses Hydra-Slide system

USA based heavy transport and rigging company Berard used its 270 tonne capacity HT300 heavy track hydraulic skidding system, manufactured by Canadian company Hydra-Slide, to move a 27 tonne cabin onto foundations on the banks of the Mississippi in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The 30-foot-long, 18-foot-wide structure was first lifted by a 600-tonne capacity floating crane but had to be moved a further 80 feet from beneath the hook to its final position. The client had originally planned to use the crane to set the cabin onto a base frame but Brett Berard, vice president of operations at Berard, explained that falling river levels at the time of the project rendered the reach out of the crane’s capacity.

“A larger crane could have completed the task, but it would have been far more expensive and time consuming than using the Hydra-Slide HT300,” Brett Berard explained. “Further, a quick turnaround was required… we mobilised in only three days to avoid any additional reduction in river levels; we were onsite for one day.”

The HT300 was combined with a hydraulic jacking system, jacks, and cribbing to complete the slide.

The tugboat cabin was moved onto the river banks so that it could be converted into an office and an interactive learning centre for students.