Calportland

The Challenge:
Handling 2.2 Million Tons of Tunneling Spoil on a Tight Schedule

In 2012, CalPortland was selected by Seattle Tunneling Partners to unload and process approximately 2.2 million tons of tunneling spoil generated during replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct (SR99). The project involved constructing an approximately 2-mile-long tunnel with a diameter of 57.5 ft beneath Seattle using what was then the world’s largest tunneling machine. The excavated material had to be barged from Seattle to the Mats Mats quarry north of Port Ludlow, efficiently unloaded, and conveyed into an abandoned stone quarry. With both cost and schedule critical to the project, CalPortland needed a high-capacity floating unloading system capable of reliably processing the enormous volume of excavated material.

“The E-Crane® team followed through on promises and delivered quality equipment at a very competitive price.”

Craig Ovely – Project Manager, Seattle Tunneling Partners

“The E-Cranes are working great and our operators are very productive and efficient.”

Jim Tweedy

The Solution:
A Floating Unloading System Built for High-Volume Spoil Handling

CalPortland engineered and built a temporary offloading system at the Mats Mats quarry specifically for the tunneling project. E-Crane supplied the floating material handling equipment needed to efficiently transfer the incoming spoil from barges into the quarry’s conveying system.

The solution includes:

Two 1000 Series E-Cranes, providing the unloading capacity required to process the large volume of tunneling spoil arriving by barge.
A 95.1 ft / 29 m reach and 7.5 yd³ / 5.7 m³ attachment, configured for efficient barge unloading.
A 4 Leg Pedestal, Barge Mounted configuration, creating a floating unloading solution that integrates with the temporary material handling system.
A 265 hp / 200 kW Electric Motor on each E-Crane, with each machine achieving an average unloading rate of more than 600 tons per hour.