Giant crane spotted in SLO County harbor. Here’s what it is doing

You may have noticed a giant crane working from a barge off the coast of Avila Beach in recent days.

What is that massive piece of equipment? And what is it doing?

According to Port San Luis Harbor District facilities manager Chris Munson, the large piece of equipment visible from shore is the D.B. Long Beach, a 76- by 255-foot steel barge mounted with a 350-ton derrick, a kind of crane with a movable pivoted arm.

Munson said that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is conducting repairs on the Port San Luis breakwater.

The project has been contracted to Connolly-Pacific Co., a rock quarrying and marine construction company based in southern California, he said.

“The crew started at the end of June dredging sediment and redepositing it away from the breakwater,” Munson wrote in an email to The Tribune. “This will allow the equipment to maneuver.”

“In the next stage, we will see deconstruction and reconstruction of breakwater sections,” he said.

It wasn’t clear Thursday when that next stage will begin.

In the meantime, community members and visitors can easily spot the derrick at work.

“With the boom all the way up, it is about 265 feet tall,” Munson said. “Its size makes it visible from a good distance away.”

The breakwater was originally constructed between 1889 and 1913 “to protect the inner bay, harbor and small craft marine facilities from heavy surf and wave action approaching from the west,” according to a public notice from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Los Angeles District Website.

The breakwater repair will help to protect Port San Luis Harbor and “maintain safe navigability within the port,” the notice said.

This story was originally published July 14, 2022 at 3:25 PM.