29.03.2007

Crane falls in Seattle

An unusual double telescopic boat yard crane dropped its boom very slowly onto a storage shed on the west side of Lake Union near Seattle yesterday after developing an internal hydraulic leak.

While it caused considerable damage no one was injured.
The 14 tonne crane which has a telescopic mast or tower with a top slewing superstructure and telescopic top boom had apparently not been used for some time, but was left extended at around 20 metres high.

The owners - Blue Water yachts say that the cranes hydraulic system developed a leak that allowed the cylinders supporting mast or lower boom to drift downl very slowly onto the building which is used as a storage warehouse.

"As far as we can tell, the hydraulic fluid flowed out of the cylinders that would have kept it upright," said Todd McChesney, 46, who owns Blue Water Yachts. "It just kind of folded."

The Washington state department of Labor and Industries was notified, but did not send anyone to the scene because no one was hurt.

Maritime cranes are required to be certified in the state of Washington, which keeps a database of 850 active maritime cranes. It is not known if this crane was still certified as it had not been used in more than a year.