What the industry refers to as bulk, break bulk and project cargo led the Port of Vancouver to a specialty niche among ports on the West Coast having to do with oversized, awkward and heavy loads.
The Port of Vancouver now boasts the two largest mobile cranes in North America. With an investment of nearly $110 million to rebuild the dock at Terminal 2 and acquire the two mobile cranes, the port is well positioned to be the heavy-lift cargo destination of the West Coast.
On Monday, crews of 33 longshore workers per crane began the task of unloading nine components of oil-mining equipment bound for the Kearl Oil Sands project in Alberta, Canada. Working in tandem, each of the cranes is scheduled for three shifts per day with the nine components expected to take five shifts or a day and a half to offload.
The Port of Vancouver is under contract with Dong Bang Transport Logistics Company, a heavy-lift operator responsible for the ocean-going transport of these components. This project specifically is establishing the port as the only port on the West Coast able to handle these heavy-lift cargoes.
Watching the heavy-lift operation are nearly four dozen visiting customers and partners from as far away as Norway and the United Kingdom, South Korea and Texas, who either have a stake in the success of the current project or represent other customers interested in seeing firsthand how well the Port of Vancouver handles these heavy loads.
Todd Coleman, port deputy executive director, noted, "These 44 visitors from out of the area are staying in local hotels and eating in our local restaurants and spending money here in Vancouver." The same size group is expected for each of the next 14 ship calls planned for the balance of the 200 units of mining components due through the port by June of 2011.
Coleman talked about the variety of jobs created and the job-training requirements as a result of bringing the cranes to the port. Due to the nature of the cargo lifted by the cranes, special training is required for the operators in order to ensure that the cargo is transferred safely and efficiently.
Jobs created for these special cargo shipments range from logistics personnel, who are responsible for the cargo once it arrives and for the transfer to the next mode of transportation required, to stevedores on the dock, who hire and supervise much of the labor and handle the equipment (trucks, trailers, etc.) used to properly move cargo around the port. Construction workers are also needed for building the apparatus required for storing the cargo once on land.
The Port of Vancouver's strategic goals include diversifying the types of cargo it is able to handle. The mobile cranes, with their ability to lift bulky and heavy cargo, are a key component in that strategy. Additionally, they have given the port an opportunity to keep the volume up as more traditional cargo such as lumber and metals have fallen off due to the recessionary economy. "The cranes have given us the opportunity to weather the storm until the more traditional cargoes return," said Coleman.
Due to their awkward nature, wind energy components like the towers for turbines are another example of cargo that requires the use of both cranes. This category of cargo has provided a steady stream of work and revenue for the port.
Shipping of oil mining components is not without controversy.
Residents of Idaho and Montana, the two states through which the components are scheduled to travel, are raising concerns over the volume of trucks traveling on state roads and the damage that could be done to the roads. The overland trip has also created a stir among environmentalists as well as local residents due to the volume of shipments and the unsightly size of them as they travel through the wilderness portions of the two states.
Project manager Imperial Oil, who owns 70 percent of the Kearl Oil Sands mining project, was still awaiting permits required by both states as of the end of September.
Photo caption:
The twin mobile cranes at work unloading oil mining equipment at the Port of Vancouver require 33 longshore workers each to operate on an eight-hour shift. The cranes have been instrumental in establishing the port as the leader in heavy and oversized loading and unloading on the West Coast.
