Lakeland Crane Prep for Freight, Campus and Industrial Work

Airport work at Lakeland Linder

Amazon's regional air hub opened at Lakeland Linder in July 2020. It includes a 285,000-square-foot building with package sorting and ramp space for seven cargo planes, and local economic development officials have described a second phase of roughly 464,000 square feet. The city owns the airport and leases the facility to Amazon.

Airfield lifting comes with rules most construction sites don't have. Crane height near runways often needs FAA review before the crane goes up, which can limit boom length and the hours you're allowed to work. Radios, lighting and coordination with airport operations become part of the lift plan.

A corporate campus that keeps growing

Publix announced in 2018 that it would expand its Lakeland corporate office by about 190,000 square feet, bringing it to roughly 510,000, and add around 700 jobs by the end of 2027. Corporate campus work tends to mean structural steel, curtain wall, precast parking decks and big rooftop air handlers, often lifted next to occupied buildings with people still coming and going.

Picks near occupied space need exclusion zones, a clear signal chain and a plan for what happens if the load has to come down early. Our signal person course covers hand and voice signals and the duties that come with directing a load.

Large corporate owners also tend to have their own lift rules on top of OSHA: written lift plans above a set weight, pre-lift meetings and restrictions on lifting over occupied areas. Operators who already understand critical lift planning fit into those programs more easily.

Inside the distribution buildings

Once the walls of a warehouse are up, the cranes don't leave. Roof steel and joists go in, then mechanical units, then conveyors and sortation systems. Mezzanines and heavy equipment may be set through roof openings before the deck closes. Smaller hydraulic cranes and articulating trucks handle much of this later-phase work.

Indoor and through-the-roof picks are almost always blind for the operator, and they often have very little clearance on the sides. That's work for a team: an operator who trusts the radio, a signal person who can see the landing, and a rigger who has measured the opening.

Lakes, heat and the I-4 commute

Lakeland is named for its lakes, and ground near them can be soft after summer rain. Summer heat and afternoon storms shape the workday from June through September. Being in the middle of the I-4 corridor also means a Lakeland crew can take work in either metro, and certified operators are the ones who get to choose.