Greens Port Industrial Terminals (GPIT) sees plenty of vessels carrying a variety of bulk products and break-bulk products like steel pipes and coils. Most of the time, unloading them is fairly straight-forward. However, when a project-cargo vessel, like the heavy lift ship Anne Sophie, arrives carrying components that can weigh more than one million pounds each, the GPIT stevedoring team really gets to flex their muscles.
The Anne Sophie itself is an impressive ship. It features one 350 metric ton crane and two 700 metric ton cranes. The two 700-ton cranes can be used together to safely lift up to 1,400 tons at once. It also features an automatic ballasting system, an extendable arm, to stabilize the ship. These are all necessary to perform heavy lifts like the one the GPIT team performed.
The components arriving on the Anne Sophie were parts bound for a liquefied natural gas plant in Port Arthur, Texas, and an industrial gases plant in Freeport, Texas. The components were removed from the ship in a series of lifts and transferred directly to barges, the dock, and to truck.
The largest lift was a 548-ton, or 1,218,007 pound, ethylene fractionator. The object is 242 feet long and was loaded directly to a barge, where the stevedoring team then secured it for transport. This included welding special components to the barge so the large items could be transported to their final destinations safely. Several components ranging from 50 to 273 metric tons were discharged to barge and dock as well.
While part of the team was moving and securing these large objects, another team was on the dock, unloading various smaller items. Multiple rigging crews worked simultaneously to efficiently, and safely, remove these items.
“We faced several challenges in this project. First was the sheer magnitude of some of the pieces,” said Commercial Director Andy Gossett.
He added, “The stevedore team, led by (GPIT general manger) Hector Saenz, had to manage two separate freight forwarders, each with a heavy haul provider, for both barges and over the road, and coordinate the direct to barge moves. The team did a great job safely completing this service for our Customers.”