Gulf County Operators: Prepare for Crane Certification Online

The county after Michael

Michael crossed the coast with 155 mph sustained winds by early estimates and was later classified as a Category 5. In Port St. Joe, about 12 miles from landfall, the mayor estimated that 1,000 homes were destroyed or damaged in a town of 3,500. Inland, Gulf was one of the three counties with the worst forest damage; the hardest-hit stands were left with more than 100 tons per acre of broken timber on the ground.

The local hospital, Sacred Heart Hospital on the Gulf, sent its last inpatients to Pensacola before landfall and suspended operations afterward, reopening its emergency department weeks later. Restoring hospitals, schools, utility substations and homes across a county like this produces a long tail of roof equipment, generators, modular units and transformers to set. Much of it is done with truck-mounted cranes by local outfits rather than big-city fleets.

Shipbuilding and port land

Gulf County's economic development council points to an Eastern Shipbuilding yard in the Port St. Joe area as one of the county's growth stories. Shipyard lifting is its own discipline: hull modules, engines and outfitting packages moved by mobile and crawler cranes, frequently in tandem, with engineered lift plans and riggers who understand load distribution between two hooks.

The Port of Port St. Joe, meanwhile, markets about 213 acres of lease-ready land next to its bulkheads. Any tenant that lands there will bring site development, steel erection and equipment setting with it. Operators who already hold certification and riggers qualified for complex lifts will be first in line.

Salt, sand and wind on the cape

Cape San Blas and Indian Pass are narrow strips of sand between the Gulf and the bay. Building homes there means lifting from sandy lots with high groundwater, often on pilings, while sea breeze builds through the afternoon. Salt spray speeds corrosion on wire rope, sheaves and pins, so daily and monthly inspections carry more weight here than on an inland job. The written exams test inspection criteria for wire rope and rigging hardware, and coastal crews see why every week.

• Mobile crane operator for construction and port work
• Rigger Level 2 for shipyard and multi-crane lifts
• Signal person for crews directing loads over hulls and rooftops
• Mobile crane recertification for experienced operators nearing the five-year mark