Julie started working in the crane and trucking business seventeen years ago. She started as a crane dispatcher and converted over to a trucking broker. She started working for GSS in 2013 as their logistics coordinator. In the beginning, there were challenges, finding drivers to take loads and earn the business from new and familiar customers. 

“We all worked very hard to get the ball rolling, and before long, GSS was looking to expand the business and employees and we moved across town which is now the GSS & TP&L yards,” Julie said. “Ten years later, GSS is bigger, and always looking to expand our trucking, crane, and personnel needs.” 

Julie normally handles the brokerage for GSS. Moving cranes, wind components, equipment, for TP&L, IDS, and Renew, and lact units, and skids for companies in the oil industry. Her largest moves have been rig moves, and a drag line with more than 140 loads from Mississippi to ND a few years ago. 

“I feel like I have been fortunate to be mentored by the best in the business Jim Orr, Matt Orr, Justin Orr, Shana Anderson, Paul Masters, Clint Murray, Scott Miller, Paul Johnson, Mike Orr, Dylan Wisroth, Michael Pantuso, and many more including Trent Zempel, who in the beginning was our engineer, safety guy, permit guy, and much more,” Julie said. “Lorrie Blackford, also came with all of us to the best family-oriented, driven, and successful, new business. When we all started here ten years ago that is what we were all taking the chance on. Stability, a good working environment, and success, and we have all strived to keep achieving this goal. There have been new companies added who have helped with the success of all of the Takkion companies, and I appreciate all of their work ethic and drive for success. 

“I try to take great pride in my work, and keeping the customers very satisfied with our safety and mindset to be #1. There are days when you might feel defeated, but you keep the mindset to never quit. There are a lot of hours behind all these companies. Hard work, dedication, and striving for excellence; that is what makes us great. Good people, good product, and the best trained people in the business. That is what makes me hold my head up high, and feel proud of where we started, and where we are going. I appreciate all my coworkers, drivers, and customers. There is never a question that can’t be answered with all the experience in this company.”  

 “Julie is married to Paul Masters, who is also employed as the Southern Regional Manager for TP&L. They met working together in 2008 and lived in Wyoming until 2020. They decided to move to Fort Worth, TX in May of 2020 to be closer to Paul’s sites, and warmer weather. 

“We packed up our life, our two Golden Doodles Cooper, and Romeo, our dog Theo, and our cat Zeus, and here we are living our best life in Texas,”Julie said. 

 In November 2021 things took a sad turn when Julie’s younger sister Lindsay passed away in a car accident. Paul and Julie, not having any children of their own, became the permanent guardians of their niece Alexis who is now 9 years old. 

“We have always had a relationship with Alexis, and Paul is her favorite,” Julie said. “She now resides with us in Texas and we enjoy the fun and love she brings to our life. You can always catch us hanging by our pool in the summer months or singing to Paul’s music in the car.  We recently went to Disneyland in October for her 9^th birthday, and have plans to go somewhere educational this summer. 

“I love football, so you can catch us at an Alabama playoff game or now, a Dallas game once a year. Alexis wears her CD Lamb jersey with pride. Our life now revolves around her, and her volleyball camps, etc. We are living our best life. Paul and I used to live to work, and now with Alexis, it has taught us to enjoy the little things. A walk with our doodles, a movie, or a trip to the zoo, or water park. The Reunion Tower is cool in Dallas.”

 Her brother Kyle is also in Texas now, and her Mom winters in Texas to be close to family. 

 “The last ten years have been amazing and I am grateful for all of the people I have met along the way,” Julie said. “Ashley helps me in brokerage, and we have big plans to expand more. She has been a great addition to our team. I would like to thank all the GSS drivers, crane operators, riggers, mechanics, office staff, and everyone who makes us great.  In ten years, I have seen a lot of promotions and people excel to do their very best. I miss my coworkers in WY, but I am never too far away. We take a day trip of fifteen hours about three times a year back home and that is what makes life worth living. This job has helped me grow as a person. When they said this about family they meant it, and I consider all of you mine. Here is to 10 more years. My husband and I often joke that one of us is always on the phone, but it is ‘the life.’ I appreciate the opportunities I have been given and look forward to another 10 years.”

Global Specialized Services was recently awarded the Magenta Wind Farm Project and they began making their first deliveries on November 14. 

The project came after GSS made a bid for it in the fourth quarter of 2021, and it was awarded in the spring of 2022. This will be GSS’ first project of the year for this specific client, and it’s a big one.

The Magenta Wind Farm is located in Fluvanna, Texas. GSS will be hauling components out of the Port of Aransas, Texas, as well as the Port of Brownsville, Texas. According to Aaron Nirider, Project Manager at GSS, the wind blades will be coming out of the Port of Brownsville, while the towers, nacelles, hubs, and drive trains will be coming out of the Port of Aransas.

Aaron Nirider said that this project is an exciting one, but it will also be a difficult project thanks, in part, to the eleven-part wind towers that will soon be getting erected. 

“There are five specific tower sections to these towers,” Nirider stated. “If you’re paying attention to the wind industry, you’ll notice that everything’s getting heavier. So right there, you’re faced with a challenge right off the bat. These blades are 77.5 meters, and just routing them through the state of Texas is a job in itself.” 

Luckily, GSS has partnered with the TXDOT to ensure a safe and speedy delivery process. 

“We’ve definitely worked hand-in-hand with the Texas Department of Transportation every day for the last four or five months,” Nirider said. “Especially trying to find routes. We realized that we’ve gotta work on this early enough on the front end to make sure we have everything lined up, but you have to understand that in Texas, construction pops up every so often.”

Construction aside, we have sent Scott Miller with GSS to run various route surveys, to determine bump-outs on turns, making sure they can get under and across bridges, and more. 

“That’s where our site survey specialist comes in,” Nirider said. “He physically runs the route and notes things like, ‘Even though TXDOT thinks we can make this turn, based on the length of this component, the turning radius and the steering angles of the trailer, we won’t be able to make the turn.’ And that’s when we try to find a different route.” 

Nirider said that GSS has two sets of equipment running each component out of the Port of Aransas, and 3-4 sets running the blades out of the Port of Brownsville. There are 11 total components to haul per tower and GSS has a total of 25 different trucks on this project. The entire project is made up of 38 total towers, and GSS is required to complete four towers a week, meaning the projected completion date is sometime in January. It’s a massive project, but the crew at GSS is more than up for the task. 

“We’re always in the business of customer service,” Nirider stated. “Especially with projects of this size. We’re always focused on keeping our customers updated with what we’re hearing on our end and just being very transparent with them on what’s going on with our routing, our permits, our start dates, when our trucks can actually be down there. We pride ourselves on being transparent. And we’ve gotten all good feedback from this customer so far. They understand the difficulty of these projects, based on the size of the components.

The client is confident, too. Because GSS has continued to prove itself with projects big and small. 

“We’ve got so much experience in our office; in the GSS office itself and through TP&L and all of our other companies,” Nirider said. “I think our customer service makes us the best choice for this project as well. We pride ourselves on customer service and making sure we can do everything in our power to get these components delivered to the site safely and on time.

And that’s exactly why the Magenta Wind Farm is in very, very good hands.

Global Specialized Services offers a wealth of services to customers in the Northwest and Midwest areas of the country, including trucking, heavy-haul, and crane services. GSS also offers Rail Logistics and can assist with everything from unloading at the dock, loading to rail, movement to truck, unloading products, and more.

Recently, GSS has added a Consulting Division to its repertoire, to assist customers in various types of scenarios when it comes to heavy-haul wind components.

“Service-wise, what we can provide is pre-construction consulting to help mitigate any potential issues that are going to come up on that project site in the future,” said Dylan Wisroth, the Senior Operations Manager with GSS.

Wisroth said that the consulting services GSS offers are vast and varied. They include in-person consulting, where consultants will meet with the customer and their team to go over whatever situation they may be facing. They will help them to decide that best haul routes, as well as how to build their string roads, how to build their radius’, how to go about getting permits, and more. In many cases, consultants will actually do the pre-project permitting themselves for the site, acquiring the permits and putting them in order for the customer.

Route planning is an especially large part of GSS’ Consulting Division, as that’s one of the most important parts of any project.

“Site surveys and route surveys are a big part of this service,” said Michael Pantuso, the Operations Field Manager with GSS. “Site surveys are huge. Route surveys are massive too, because these components keep getting larger and larger and the infrastructure in the United States is not set up for that. So having to find the right routes to get some of this equipment to sites, especially where they build the wind farms – those are crucial.”

Additionally, consultants can perform ‘load-outs,’ advising customers on the types of equipment and components to use for each project, as well as traffic control plans.

GSS can also provide customers with drone footage of potential land where projects may take place.

“If they just want a flyover to get the lay of the land so that they can supply that to their team, we can do that,” Wisroth stated. “We’ll just do an auto-turn based on a drone footage snapshot, because Google images are not as accurate. So, the best way to do it is with a drone. We’ll also do dry runs. So, if our customers get to a portion of the project and they believe that the roads are built to where they can get components in there and they want to do a dry run, we’ll actually have one of our trucks and blade trailers go out to the site and actually drive all the site roads to make sure that those clearances are good and that there are no issues. Those are all part of the consulting service.”

The Consulting Division of GSS is a labor of love for Pantuso, who has worked in the heavy-haul industry for almost three decades.

“Ever since I took this position, [consulting] was one of the things that I honed in on and focused on because there were so many areas that this could benefit the company in, and it could broaden our customer base,” Pantuso said. “My 5-year-plan is to have a very large division that employs quite a bit of people. I’d like to have 10 permanent people, just like myself, doing this all over North America and possibly going global with it. We can do this. This is something that’s really, really exciting. And it’s a great opportunity.”

Pantuso said his number one goal is to build the division, and his number two goal is for it to actually finance itself.

Both are goals that could very easily be attained.

Right now, Wisroth said there are only about three people heading up the division at the moment, but the more that word gets out that this is a service GSS offers, the more customers will want to utilize it, resulting in more people being hired to perform the consulting.

This is just one of the services that separate GSS from its competitors, but it’s a stark reminder that GSS is committed to providing beginning-to-end services, allowing customers to rest easy knowing that every step of the haul is being handled by true experts in the field.

And make no mistake about it, Pantuso is very much an expert in this field. He has the experience and, maybe even more importantly, he has the passion to see this division flourish.

“Every person that’s a part of this division are all former heavy haul truck drivers that are trained on all forms of equipment,” he stated. “Consistency is key. So, everybody that comes aboard is going to be trained exactly the same way, to do it exactly the same way, to assess the situation exactly the same way. And they’re all going to have real-world experience.”

Wisroth agreed.

“What separates us from our competitors is just the background of each of our guys on-site,” he stated. “Each one of them come with 25-plus years of heavy haul experience. And, for the most part, I think that we work in every area. We’ve done a lot of work in power plants, mining, wind, oil and gas, and more. And, really, the whole purpose of this division is to save these companies money. We can save companies millions of dollars.”

That is the biggest goal off the Consulting Division of GSS and it’s Pantuso’s goal as well – a goal that he believes his team is more than capable of reaching.

“If you take all the people that could make the decisions to run something here, we have well over 200 years of experience, collectively,” he said. “We have that mix between the younger generation in our office that are brilliant, and then we have my generation that are older and have done all of this stuff before. So, it’s a great mix that we put together, and I think we’re unstoppable.”

Global Specialized Services is proud to announce its acquisition of a new, 120-ton crane to be used in the field in a variety of ways. 

This new crane, serving the Rocky Mountain region, will be based out of Wyoming and used primarily in the oil field and in the erection of cell phone towers, setting up air conditioners on buildings, and more! 

As one of our smaller cranes, this crane has a jib with a reach of 275 feet. This gives it the ability to maneuver in and out of smaller areas with relative ease. It has a compact size for the tonnage, which means it can be utilized in smaller job sites. Because of its longer reach, this crane can get closer to buildings, resulting in more capacity at the same rate.

It is an all-terrain, instead of a truck crane, which makes it a lot more versatile with offroad job sites, as well. 

This crane is designed to be on dirt roads, meaning it can withstand even the toughest road conditions. It has a higher lifting capacity with the same amount of counterweight, meaning teams will not need additional counterweight trucks to balance the capacity. Additionally, it negates the need of a boom dolly, meaning fewer machines taking up space on the job site, and fewer technicians to operate it. 

This crane will be replacing an older model, and it is just the latest example of GSS continuing to innovate, as we offer our customers the best service for all of their construction needs.

When working at TAKKION and any of its sister companies, it’s not just a job; it’s a career. It’s a chance to develop skills and climb the ladder of success until you reach the heights that you’ve always wanted to reach. It’s an opportunity to learn, to grow, and to better yourself, personally and professionally.

That’s exactly what Juan Hernandez has done, and it’s why he was recently named the Operations Manager of a GSS location in Oklahoma.

Juan has been working with GSS’ sister company, Transportation Partners & Logistics, for more than 6 years.

And in those 6 years, he has built a reputation as a reliable, innovative, motivated, hard-working natural born leader.

Before starting with TP&L, Juan worked in the oil field industry, working on various pipelines and compressor stations.

“After that last boom, I just decided I wasn’t going back to the oilfield,” Juan stated. “I was looking for a different path, a different career. And that’s how I started with TP&L. It’s been a long ride, but a really nice and comfortable ride.”

That ride began more than 6 years ago. Juan originally heard about TP&L through a temp employee agency who told him a company needed some general labor workers. He traveled to Garden City, Kansas where he was trained on offloading machine heads and hub trains, tower trains, and blades trains. He started working as a rigger, but then was asked to operate a forklift for a wind project. That was something he proved to excel at.

“I came back to Enid and stayed on the forklift,” Juan stated. “And from there, I went to a lead position; I was leading a crew on offloading trains and components off the trains, loading trucks, and running a crew.”

Following that, he began working as a foreman, helping to “run the yard.” He would be given directions from his superior and would direct his crew to make sure the trucks and trains were loading and offloading on schedule.

Following that, he worked as a foreman and then a site manager, traveling to various sites to ensure the quality of work met the standards of excellence that TP&L is known for.

“I’ve been on the road a lot and I started talking to our regional managers, Ryan and Paul,” Juan said. “I told them I was trying to be home a little more often, so they offered me this position and that’s how I got to where I am today.”

Today, Juan is the Operations Manager for the Enid, Oklahoma GSS site.

“What’s really exciting is that it’s a different work environment,” Juan said. “We’re trying to grow this company down here and, for me, the excitement is getting out there and being the face of the brand, of GSS and building customer relationships. And we’re starting with a small group of employees, but I’m setting a goal for myself that we’re going to expand this site to have 30 employees out here. So it’s exciting for me to challenge myself. I wake up and I say, ‘Okay, today we want to accomplish this.’”

Juan said that he believes the reason he was chosen for this position was because of his drive to succeed.

“One of the things I know about myself is that I’m self-motivated,” he revealed. “To be out there and go from place to place, you’ve gotta be motivated. If you don’t have that drive, you’re not gonna make it.”

But Juan has made it. And he’s excited to help others make it as well. That’s part of being a good boss; investing in your employees and helping them achieve greater things than even you, yourself, have accomplished.

That’s exactly what Juan’s bosses have done for him, and it’s what he does for his employees.

“It’s been a good experience,” he stated. “It’s made me grow a lot. I started as a temp, and to get to where I’m at and look back at what I’ve accomplished with the help of everybody in the company, and all of the trust and support that the company’s given me, it’s a big deal. I know Paul is really proud of me. Paul was the one that brought me up. He saw something in me and he’s the one that pushed me a lot. Even today, I had a conversation with him and he said ‘Keep pushing; give it all you’ve got. And one day, you’re gonna end up being higher than what you ever thought you could be.’”

Juan has climbed the ladder of success that was offered to him at TP&L and, now, GSS. And now that he’s on one of the top rungs, he’s reaching down to help pull others up with him.

And that’s exactly what a good boss, what a good manager, should be doing.

Juan is a good manager. But even more than that, he’s a good man.

Global Specialized Services is saddened, but so proud, to announce the retirement of one of our truck drivers, Floyd Crisp. Floyd has been one of Jim Orr’s (President of GSS) right-hand-men since before GSS even existed, and he has been a staple of the trucking industry for decades.

“I started working with Jim Orr in 1999,” Floyd stated. “I worked with Jim at other companies and then when he started GSS, I came along with him.”

Floyd said that he’s been a truck driver for the last twenty years. He began his career working for Casper Concrete and fell in love with the job. He said he enjoyed the simplicity of it.

“They give us a truck, we pick up a load somewhere and drop it off somewhere else,” he laughed. “The most important thing is to take care of the equipment. Make sure the equipment is in good shape at all times.”

And that’s something that Floyd always did. He took his job seriously and he made sure that no matter what load he was carrying, it was always taken care of.

Customers and other employees always enjoyed seeing Floyd pull into their projects. Floyd’s great attitude and work ethic will be missed, but we want to wish him a long and happy retirement.

“As Floyd stated, I have had the pleasure to work with Floyd for over 20 years. In those 20+ years, Floyd has driven over 2 million miles without a major incident. It has been a great honor to work with a man that has the work ethics that Floyd has. To my knowledge, Floyd was never late for a pickup or delivery and wore the GSS brand with pride. Thank you for all that you have done for the GSS family and enjoy your retirement. You will be greatly missed!”

– Jim Orr

Global Specialized Services is proud to announce that we were awarded the opportunity to provide the transportation for the second half of a project located in central Montana. This project will be our first major project of the year, and it is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2022.

This comes after GSS already worked on the first half of the project in 2021.

“At the end of the year, around November or December, the bid proposal came out and we were able to make a bid for the second half of this project,” said Dylan Wisroth, Operations Manager at GSS. “During the week of Christmas, as the year was coming to an end, we were given the award to go ahead and start planning our preparation for it. With the first part of this project, we weren’t the only company that contributed to it. There were so many components coming in at such a high volume, and there were multiple companies working on it. So, getting the award on the second part of it was honestly humbling. It was nice to know that we’re doing things right and that the customer felt that we were the right people for the job.”

At GSS, oversize and overweight loads are our specialty, and all of our drivers are experienced and extensively trained to safely transport all sorts of different cargo. This project consists of transporting 16 complete wind turbines to central Montana. It’s a big project, and it’s one that requires a lot of planning and logistics management.

“There’s a lot of time spent planning this project,” Wisroth stated. “Going into Montana in the winter, we knew we were going to come up against quite a few different obstacles and we wanted to ensure that we respect Montana and do it right. We’re also getting everybody spaced out and making sure that it’s communicated across all different levels with our different drivers. We’ve got 38 drivers moving on the road right now, just for this project alone.”

Before sending his drivers on the project, Wisroth made sure he knew the route forward and backward. He completed a route survey and drove the routes himself.

“I physically went up to Montana with the customer,” he said. “We ran 2,000 miles in two days to run routes. I was driving ‘til the wheels came off, but that kind of frontend work is what it takes to be really successful on a project of this size. Most of the routes have over 750 miles of transit, which is a very long haul that has many different turns and so many different obstacles that can happen along the way.”

That is the type of commitment that got GSS the bid, but it wasn’t the only thing that landed them the job.

“I think it came down to not only our relationship with the customer, but our relationship we have with Montana in general and the DOT (Department of Transportation) in this specific project,” Wisroth said. “There are not a lot of wind farms in Montana, so the relationship is kind of new when it comes to wind customers and the energy sector. So, I think that a big reason why we got the job is because we have such a great rapport. We get involved at the very front end of a project and, in the middle, they know that they can call us if there would ever be any issues.”

This project is a big project; one that’s employing roughly 120 people just on the GSS side. That doesn’t include pilot cars, site employees, and more. Driving this amount of wind turbines to Montana in winter is not an easy task, but it’s one that GSS is more than capable of taking on.

“I think it goes without saying, but we have a can-do-attitude,” Wisroth stated. “We’re very solution based. There’s not a problem that can come up that we’re not going to find a solution for. Instead of saying ‘I can’t do it,’ we just figure out a way to make things happen, safely and efficiently. It’s also the flexibility aspect. We’re always ready. Somebody could call us tomorrow and say they have another project and need us to start next week, and we would start the planning and hit the ground running to make it happen. We find solutions and I think that’s a big driver for why GSS gets the projects we do.”

With the recent purchase of a second Demag AC220-5, GSS is able to now serve twice the amount of customers is Wyoming, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and various other surrounding states. With 7 sections of boom and a 245-ton lifting capacity, this crane is able to lift more weight at a longer reach, making it the solution to just about any job. Having a maximum tip height of 255′, this is one of the longest main booms on a 5-axle crane. This all-terrain crane is able to travel over the road to any job at any given distance. Aside from its large capacity, this crane has a compact design and all-wheel steering allowing it to maneuverer into tight spaces, all while still being able to reach incredible distances.

The AC220-5 has been on numerous wireline, coil tubing, frac operations, and wind farm jobs, and has proven itself to be an extremely reliable crane. It has also lifted gearboxes, cable reels, coolers, lact units, A/C Units, vessels, transformers, drilling rig doghouses, and much more. It is without a doubt that this crane will continue to raise the bar and exceed any expectations. We are proud to serve our customers and take pride in having the necessary equipment in order to get the job done safely and efficiently.