The Monster Barge Crane

Last week when I was doing my walk there was some very light snow coming down occasionally and it was overcast and past sunset.  I see this giant barge crane every time I drive by or walk by.  It is a huge machine and you can see the twin booms from a long way off.  This crane is capable of lifting an entire sunken steel barge, like the ones that bring sand to the facility across the harbor.  This thing is so huge, that if you click on the photo and look carefully, you will see two small tug boats sitting on the deck of the barge, to the left of the white structure.  On the fence outside the  facility that owns this machine, there is a glass-covered bulletin board and there are photographs of this crane lifting a barge that had sunk.  The interesting thing is that this machine is used so infrequently, but when it is needed, there is nothing else around that can match its lifting power.  So this is the long view, and the photograph below is a close up of the machine.  

You can see how large this is, based on the small "control tower" partially visible behind the left-hand boom.  What is amazing to me is that this machine sits there in salt water month after month, where storms blow salt water all over it, and the sheaves and cables.  I would think the cables would rust through.  And what about the engines that run it?  Do they go out every once in a while and start up the diesel engines to keep them lubricated?  Imagine not running an engine for a year or two and then you expect that they will start when you need them?  Boggles my mind!