A towering presence that defined the West Seattle shoreline along Elliott Bay has pulled up its moorings and headed back to work.

The Pacific Titan, recognized as the largest floating shear-leg crane stationed on the U.S. West Coast, has departed its anchorage just off Harbor Avenue SW. For months, the colossal vessel sat moored in the Pier 1 area between Jack Block Park and Salty’s on Alki, drawing stares and camera clicks from waterfront walkers, commuters, and nearby residents.

Now, the view across the bay toward the downtown skyline has suddenly cleared.

Tugboats met the mammoth barge this week to tow it out of its West Seattle berth. According to maritime operators, the vessel left the Harbor Avenue staging area to mobilize for heavy-lift infrastructure and marine construction assignments around Puget Sound and the wider Pacific Northwest.

The vessel is no stranger to monumental engineering tasks. Capable of hoisting up to 2,000 tons with its 300-foot boom, the crane originally gained worldwide fame under the moniker Left Coast Lifter while helping assemble the eastern span of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. Later rechristened I Lift NY, it traversed the Panama Canal to help erect the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge over the Hudson River in New York before eventually returning to the Pacific.

Under new ownership and operating under the name Pacific Titan, the rig arrived in local waters in late 2025. Operators chose Elliott Bay as a temporary base to stage the vessel while awaiting commercial contracts and project deployments.

Because heavy-lift barges function as mobile industrial platforms rather than permanent fixtures, their stays are dictated by active project schedules. While West Seattle neighbors will notice a quieter horizon along Harbor Avenue, the massive crane is expected to remain a recurring sight across regional waterways as major marine projects unfold.

You can watch footage of the massive barge in action in this video of the Pacific Titan Crane: Floating Giant.

This video offers a detailed look at the 2,000-ton floating crane during its operations in the Pacific Northwest.