A new Paul Bunyan-sized floating crane is being built for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for duty at the Soo Locks. It’s a project just getting started. The new $45.8 million vessel, named after the fictional lumberjack Paul Bunyan, is expected to be ready for work in 2028. It will be the largest barge in the Corps’ inventory in size, capacity and draft. The vessel will be as long as a football field and capable of lifting 1,000,528 pounds at a 50-foot radius.  

First official steps to purchase the new floating crane started last July, when the Corps’ Marine Design Center (MDC) published an invitation –to bid for construction. For the barge, MDC sought the following dimensions: 

• Overall length – 300 feet 

• Beam – 74 feet 

• Hull depth – 14 feet 

• Draft (full load) – 7 feet 

The contractor must “integrate a government furnished crane into the barge, resulting in a floating crane with heavy-lift capability.” The Corps has already procured a SeaTrax Model S14440 king post crane. The Corps’ Rock Island District has a similar crane barge, but it’s a bit smaller. 

Requirements for the bid included some unique, inherent operational challenges that a contractor had to consider. Due to the finished vessel’s air draft, it cannot be delivered via the Mississippi River unless it can be completed on the Great Lakes. Absent that final assembly, MDC noted the complete unit would have to get to the Soo Locks via the St. Lawrence Seaway. Conrad Shipyard in Louisiana has been awarded the contract. The vessel will be delivered via the Gulf of America, then up the Atlantic Coast to the St. Lawrence River. The new vessel will join the Corps’ Detroit District, used to support lock maintenance. 

There’s a friendly history associated with huge Paul Bunyan-type cranes. Ports around the United States also have had massive crane barges nicknamed Paul Bunyan. Carrie Fox, the public affairs specialist for the Detroit District, said the Soo Locks previously had a heavy lift crane barge called the Paul Bunyan, which was constructed in 1944/1945. That was before the modern Poe Lock that is now part of the Soo Lock system. Fox noted that gate sizes and stop logs, which are used to temporarily block or control water flow for maintenance or water flow adjustments, have increased significantly since 1968 when the current Poe Lock was built. That first Paul Bunyan crane was retired and dismantled in 2021.  

In addition to this new crane barge, the Corps continues to work on the New Lock at the Soo project. The new 1,200-foot lock is the same size as the Poe and is being constructed in the footprint of the Sabin Lock. In June, the Corps awarded $95.3 million to Kokosing Alberici Traylor (KAT) of Westerville, Ohio, to complete the third and fourth phases of work. When completed, the new lock will provide the same passage capacity as the Poe Lock. The Soo Lock system is the critical link within the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway, allowing the Lakes to function as a singular maritime asset. 

Fox said the new Paul Bunyan will replace four “aged purpose-built assets,” three stiff-legged cranes as well as the old Paul Bunyan. It will support locks maintenance, hydropower maintenance and anything needing heavy capacity or long reach. The new unit will be able to lift miter gates and vessels and be used as a floating repair station. It also will assist in dewatering the locks. 

Fox added that the new crane barge will be used for projects and infrastructure on the St. Marys River as well as the 17 harbors and channels within the Soo Project Office. It will be able to travel – moved by Corps tugs – to other projects, even beyond the Great Lakes, if the need arises. 

Feature image courtesy of The Shearer Group