Equipment Express – Canada | United States

During early 2014, after more than one year of planning, Equipment Express (EEI) successfully completed the movement of two 130 Ton steam turbine rotors from the Port of St John to New Brunswick Power’s Point Lepreau Generating Station.

For this project, EEI provided a turnkey solution for relocating the turbines over 50 KM from the Port, to inside the powerhouse at Point Lepreau. Our permit specialists, engineers and project managers worked together to secure the super-load permit for the over the road transport, which involved a complete closure of a large highway in Saint John. The rotors were transported to the station suspended from the girder frame of EEI’s ultra-light 19-Axle trailer. Once at the station, EEI transloaded the rotors to 8-lines of our self-propelled hydraulic trailer to complete the final delivery into the powerhouse.

This project showcases EEI’s ability to combine its extensive equipment fleet and experienced personnel to deliver the complex solutions our customers often require, especially within the nuclear industry.

The rugged terrain of Quebec’s Gaspe Peninsula was a perfect setting for Equipment Express (EEI) to showcase its engineered transportation abilities during a recent transformer project. EEI was tasked with the transport of a 136 Ton transformer from a dock at Cacouna QC, on the south shore of the St Lawrence River, to a Wind Farm near Mont Louis, QC. Transport by barge was the most feasible solution, but no suitable dock existed in the Mont Louis area. Through detailed surveys and engineering, EEI developed a plan for a RO RO offload at a local beach, this only possible on the highest of the 7’ tides and even then requiring a 70’ RO RO ramp. In early spring conditions, EEI rolled the transformer onto the barge in Cacouna for the 320 km journey NE on the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Mont Louis. The barge was then delivered to the beach on the midnight high tide and pulled into place using prime movers. The next morning the 70’ engineered ramp was installed from the stern of the barge to the shoulder of the coastal highway. With the help of a local rock truck, the loaded transport arrangement was pulled off the barge and successfully delivered up 10% grades to the Wind Farm in the adjoining hills without incident.

Equipment Express (EEI) was tasked with finding a way to get a 192 Ton generator rotor from the Bruce Power Nuclear Generating Station, located on Lake Huron near Kincardine, to a multi-modal transport connection for furtherance to an overseas destination. While barge transport had been utilized in this area in the past, a winter transport schedule was not going to allow barging for this cargo. EEI set out to develop an over-the-road transport solution to the closest rail siding. Transport route surveys quickly established an optimum, 190 km route that included (19) structures that would require engineering analysis before this ‘super-load’ could cross them. The suitable transport arrangement for this load, route and the predictable winter weather was judged to be (2) prime movers and a 22-line hydraulic trailer and was 200’ in length, this creating (15) critical corners on the route that would require detailed surveys for transport clearance analysis. After all the engineering and analysis was complete, to a positive result, and the rotor was loaded and transport permits were in place, a sudden winter thaw resulted in a ‘half-load’ restriction on 17 kms of the route. It was only after a week of freezing temperatures, and geotechnical testing of the subject road-bed to insure adequate load-bearing strength, that the rotor was transported to the rail siding without incident. There EEI loaded the rotor to railcar by jack & slide and tied it down.

Equipment Express (EEI) was recently tasked with moving three 195 Ton power transformers in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, as part of a project to improve the reliability of the city’s power distribution network. After it was determined that this cargo was too large to move by rail, EEI set out to develop an over-the-road transport solution. Our engineers worked with provincial officials and engineers to design a hydraulic trailer configuration that could be supported by the multiple bridges along the 130km transport route. After our trailer design and detailed traffic management plan were approved, EEI coordinated the massive effort with a host of utilities, authorities and regional municipalities. In late 2012, EEI delivered the three power transformers directly from “factory-to-foundation” as scheduled and in the process managed to set a record for the heaviest grossing load to be permitted in the Province of Manitoba. Special thanks to Manitoba’s Infrastructure and Transportation group for their hard work on this project.