In 2016, the Panama Canal was expanded to allow larger ships to pass through, enabling giant container ships from Asia to bring their goods to the North American East Coast. While this is good for trade, it’s not quite as good for American harbors that now have to accommodate these large ships. The port in Wilmington is no exception, and recently received two gigantic cranes in order to expand the size of its docks.

But there was a problem. Across the river leading to the port lay a series of power lines, and the ship carrying the cranes was too tall to fit underneath them. In order to ensure the ship made it to the harbor safely, Duke Energy—the owner of the power lines—had to engage in some unique modifications to those lines.

“We went through a couple of different evolutions of [possible] solutions before we arrived on the [final] one,” says Duke Energy Transmission Project Manager John Taylor. “We were considering using a helicopter to pick up the line, but we ruled that out for safety reasons.” The team also considered using a barge to hold up the line from below, but abandoned that idea once it became clear there was not enough space in the river.



In the end, Duke Energy settled for a simpler but no less impressive solution: climbing the giant towers holding up the lines, attaching hoists to the upper levels of the tower, and raising the lines an additional 10 feet.

This is the first time that Duke Energy has ever done this, and it’s likely the first time anyone has done this, according to Taylor. “As far as I know, we started from scratch,” says Taylor. There is also the possibility that Duke will have to do this again. “There is a third crane in the works,” says Taylor, which means that if they don’t come up with a different solution, Duke Energy may end up having to lift these lines over and over again.

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