Release Date: 8/31/2010
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PORTAGE, Ind. - The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor is handling one of the
biggest single cargoes in the port's 40-year history. A 388-ton electrical
transformer recently arrived on the ship "Beluga Recognition" from Cordoba,
Spain, and was transloaded at the port onto the largest railcar ever to enter
the facility.
The transformer was loaded onto a 20-axle railcar for its trip to Ottawa, Ill.,
for installation at the Exelon Corp.'s LaSalle County Nuclear Generating Station.
The plant supplies electricity to Chicago and northern Illinois. The combined
weight of the railcar and transformer is over 1.3 million pounds, or 650 tons.
The transformer is currently being stored at the port until final delivery to
the LaSalle County station in the near future.
The transformer was unloaded from the ship by the port's terminal operator,
Federal Marine Terminals, and a 16-man crew from the International Longshoremen's
Association. Specialized Rail Transport is handling the rail loading and
transportation of the transformer to Illinois.
"We've seen a significant increase in project cargo shipments this year," said
Peter Laman, port director at the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor. "This port has
all the components a shipper would want to see for handling large cargoes - a
world-class terminal operator, one of the most productive longshoremen labor
units on the Great Lakes, sufficient draft for large ships, transload
capabilities between rail, ship, truck and barge, and plenty of indoor and
outdoor storage. Just take a look around our port today - we've got over 15
acres of wind turbine components, and more are on the way."
Through July, the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor has handled nearly 70,000 tons
of project cargo shipments and 693,000 tons of overall shipments, a 52-percent
increase versus the same period in 2009. The port handled 18,000 tons of project
cargo in all of 2009.
DEFINITIONS: "Project Cargo" and "Heavy Lift" are terms used in the shipping industry to describe the transportation and handling of heavy or oversized items which are generally too large to fit into normal shipping containers or onto conventional transporters. These items are indivisible but characteristically do not have standardized weights or dimensions, and therefore require specialized transportation planning. Typical project cargo shipments can include: generators, turbines, reactors, boilers, towers, heaters, presses, locomotives, boats, farming equipment and military vehicles. Transporting heavy lift items generally requires the use of special vehicles - trucks, trailers, railcars, barges and ships - with large-load capacities or unique loading features. The transportation of project cargo and heavy lift items ranks among the most challenging and complex services in logistics and is handled by specialized companies.
For information, media should contact Jody Peacock at 317-233-6225 or
jpeacock@portsofindiana.com.
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