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20 THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE www.joc.com APRIL 2017 WHEN ROY BERARD Sr. was offered $50 to move a small house in South Louisiana, he was thrilled. It was 1945, and he was making less than $10 a week as a sugarcane farmer. That house-moving job launched Berard Transportation, a heavy-haul specialist in petrochemical construction modules, offshore oil structures, and "anything big and heavy that needs to be moved," said Brett Berard, vice president of operations and grandson of the company's founder. "A lot of times, we don't know a lot about exactly how some of the things we move will be used," Berard said. "But we know where to support it, where to chain it down, how much it weighs, and where the customer wants to put it." Companies like Berard are a crucial link in project cargo transportation, which is all about planning, engineering, and execution of big, heavy moves. Berard, based in New Iberia, Louisiana, is a three-time winner of the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association's "Move of the Year" award. Berard grew up with Louisiana's oil and gas industry, and now has branches in Houston, Mobile, and Morgan City, Louisiana. Oil, gas, and petrochemicals in Louisiana and elsewhere on the US Gulf remain the company's main customer base, but Berard also moves equipment for civil engineering, power generation, and a range of other customers. A few years ago, Berard moved a 200-year-old oak tree weighing 800,000 pounds a mile down the road to make room for a highway. Last year, the company moved a replica of a PT boat from New Orleans' World War II museum through city streets for loading onto a barge. "For me and a lot of our crew, that was one of our favorites, because of the history behind it," Brett Berard said. "We were very glad we could bring our experience to the table and preserve a piece of history. It's not every day we can do that." Each job ha s unique cha llenges, Berard said. The company's most recent By Joseph Bonney HIGH, WIDE, AND HEAVY Louisiana-based Berard Transportation handles 'anything big and heavy that needs to be moved'