Waiting for the Flood
February 2007

Correct timing is essential in the successful completion of complex projects.  Such was the case of two large deetanization towers that were destined for a new LNG plant being constructed in Peru.  Each vessel was 168 feet long, 15 feet in diameter, and weighed 579,400 pounds. 

Delivery to the inland plant site, which is inaccessible by road, had to be made by ship, sailing up the Amazon River.  Because of the draft of the ship required to transport these extremely large pieces, the delivery site would not be accessible to the ship until the annual flooding of the Amazon neared its peak in the Spring of 2007.  Timing was critical, since the ship carrying the towers had to arrive at a time when the Amazon would remain sufficiently deep long enough to allow passage in, unloading, and passage out.

When fabrication of the two towers was completed in late 2006, the Amazon flooding had not yet begun, and the towers would have to remain in Houston until February.  Curtis Kelly, the manufacturer of the towers, called on Palletized Trucking to move the towers from the fabrication facility to the plant's laydown yard.  A 23-line Goldhöfer hydraulic platform trailer configuration was used to move each tower.  To provide enhanced maneuverability inside the facility the configuration consisted of two independently steerable bolster units.  The towers were self-loaded onto the equipment, moved to the laydown yard, and self-unloaded onto jack stands.

Delivery to the ship took place on February 2, 2007.  Prior to this move, our project team met with representatives from Industrial Terminal to review the delivery plans.  Because of the weight of the towers, there was concern about the possibility of dock warpage when the loads arrived shipside.  To overcome this potential problem, the Goldhöfer configuration was increased to a total of 29 lines divided 15/14 between the two steerable bolster units to further distribute the weight.  Two shipside cranes were used to load each tower onto the deck of the BBC Africa.  When the ship arrived at the mouth of the Amazon, the flooding was near its peak and the water was deep enough to permit the successful delivery of the towers.