Ind. port workers unloading giant crane for BP

BURNS HARBOR, Ind. — Workers at the Port of Indiana on Lake Michigan are busy unloading an enormous crane that will help BP PLC complete the company’s $3.8 billion expansion of its Whiting refinery.

The Times of Muster reports dockworkers began unloading the 190-piece shipment Monday at the Burns Harbor port.

When fully assembled, the crane weighs 1.65 million pounds, can lift more than 3,000 tons and stands 473 feet tall. Its Germany maker calls the giant machine the world’s largest crawler crane. Those are mobile cranes used to hoist and swing heavy loads in various directions.

The crane’s components will trucked over the next six weeks to BP’s Whiting refinery for its expansion set to open next year and make it the nation’s top processor of heavy high-sulfur Canadian crude oil.