The importance of cranes in construction: operating in tough conditions, enjoying the work.

• Author: White, Rindi
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Building Alaska

Operating a crane is precise work. The person at the controls wields a lot of power, swinging heavy items into place while a crew on the ground assists. A small mistake could mean costly property damage and even, in a small number of cases, lost lives.

In Alaska, the job is even more complicated. Operators sometimes work where there are no roads and in weather few other crane operators see--blowing snow, bristling winds, below-zero temperatures and freezing sea spray.

STG Incorporated, a construction services company operating in Alaska since 1991, knows a lot about operating in tough conditions. Owner Jim St. George says the company got its start repairing failing tank farms in Alaska villages. Installing tanks and driving piles in villages around Alaska are still a large part of the company's work, jobs that are assisted by a fleet of 23 cranes.

A Handful Out of Hundreds

St. George says the company began using cranes because it made STG more competitive.

In 1996, STG opened an office in Anchorage and he purchased Alaska Crane in 2001, an Anchorage-based crane services company. As STG and Alaska Crane's workload expanded he bought more cranes, sending some to western Alaska to assist in contracts there.

"Alaska Crane is more of a traditional crane service company while STG's utilization of cranes is more geared to the completion of construction projects requiring their use," St. George says.

Today Alaska Crane is one of the largest crane services companies in the state. But St. George says there are plenty of other cranes at work here--hundreds, perhaps. From oil field services to ports and construction sites, cranes are picking loads all over Alaska.

"No one does exactly what we do, but everyone does a part of what we do," he says. "Some people do more port (work), some do more steel, some drive more piles. We do a mix and we focus pretty hard on construction."

St. George says he's adept at operating cranes but his most recent acquisition, a Liebherr LR1600/2 crawler crane, is more crane than he's comfortable operating. It's an enormous machine, currently the largest mobile crane operating in Alaska.

According to information from the German manufacturer Liebherr, the boom is geared specifically for erecting wind turbines. It can lift 660 tons and operates with a very sophisticated network of computerized sensors. It's a big machine, but perhaps safer than older styles of crane, St. George says.

"Years ago, you operated the crane by the...