UTC Overseas has completed a two-year, multimodal project to deliver 50,000 freight tons of cargo from Europe, Asia, and North America to a biofuel refinery plant in Nebraska, USA.
Nebraska is landlocked, and getting to the jobsite with no immediate river access was challenging, said UTC. The modularised pieces were too big to use traditional rail and trucking options, so the company had to identify a roll-off location close to the jobsite where deck barges could dock. After several surveys and one year of preparation Brownville, Nebraska, was selected, thanks to its location plus a good boat ramp to accommodate a roll-off operation.
UTC experts developed a thorough method plan to send the cargo via barge up the Mississippi River to the Missouri River to get to Brownville. The equipment would then have to travel some 180 miles from Brownville to Hastings via road, requiring both DOT permits and extensive utility work to avoid overhead obstructions.
In Q4 2023, the first reactors were delivered from Spain to Houston and trucked on specialised dolly systems to Hastings. In 2024, large modular components from Shanghai were shipped to New Orleans via heavy lift vessels. Once cleared at the New Orleans entry port, a spud barge and deck barge moved the components along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to Hastings.
UTC said that the Missouri River is free flowing, has many sand bars and is challenging to traverse. The initial plan to place the first deck barge perpendicular to the shoreline in Brownville for a roll-off operation had to be rethought out. The Missouri River levels and currents were unusually strong and high, measuring approximately 3.5 knots, and even with two assist tug-boats and the mooring system tied up to bulldozers and tractors on land, it was deemed too risky to unload in that fashion, so an alternate plan was implemented.
Instead of rolling off using a SPMT, UTC decided to use a hydraulic crane. At the offloading site, a compaction test of the prepped area was conducted with the assembled crane boom slewing 360 degrees in timed intervals. No movement or shifting was observed under all four crane outriggers with load spreaders. With all precautions taken, it was safe to proceed.
The city of Brownville allowed UTC to use a solid laydown yard with an asphalt base near the landing area. Some of the modules were unloaded using the crane and moved to the temporary laydown yard.
The Missouri River is also prone to flooding. Due to this, UTC routinely checked weather and water levels, especially during the ongoing operations. The first two pieces were unloaded and moved to the staging site. Winds picked up and exceeded 20 mph, the maximum safety level for crane discharge.
At the same time, the river gauge showed an 11 ft (3.35 m) rise over the next few days. The crew consulted the Army Corps of Engineers website, which gauges water level fluctuations on the river, and discovered that flood gates in the North at Gavins Point Dam had been opened due to torrential rains feeding into the tributaries. Projections were certain that the landing area would be underwater by nightfall.
Matt Loll, UTC executive vice president of global project development, said: “As hours passed, waters rose, and the crane was de-mobed and moved to protect equipment and labour. The entire staging area had to be vacated. A few hundred yards downriver, near a riverboat hotel utilised as an accommodation point, we discovered a calm cove protected from strong currents. The property owner was agreeable and very helpful in assisting with excavating the land area so the barge could dock at an even level. We built a ramp to allow the remaining three modules of equipment to roll off.”
He noted that additional challenges arose, and a build-up was necessary to allow the pieces to move from the new barge landing area to the new laydown site. “The area was wooded, with no clear path for the equipment. Civil works and matting were necessary throughout to remove soil, rocks, and other debris and build a temporary bridge bypass allowing movement over the mooring system anchoring the riverboat hotel and matting a path to the laydown area,” Loll pointed out.
The second lot, with two deck barges loaded with 12 modules in total, arrived in July 2024. After unloading by the same roll-off method at the new landing-cove, the area was again hit with near-record-breaking flooding. UTC’s team prepared and elevated all modules on stands and beams to protect them from rising waters.
Staging the cargo was done at the roll-off locations in Brownville because it could not move to the jobsite until utility companies lifted wires along the route. There were 113 power and cable lines crossing the roads – a combination of residential and agricultural lines. Coordination had to be done with 13 different utility companies to clear the way for safe transport.
With the help of the project owners, the entire team had to negotiate with local utility companies from the end of 2023 until the end of 2024 to raise or exchange utility poles so the module heights could clear the lines safely. The majority of the power poles could only be raised/exchanged in the early fall to avoid interrupting agricultural harvests. This meant that the modules had to be staged for a few months before the move to the final leg to the jobsite could take place.
Another significant challenge was the Customs clearance process. UTC noted that there were concerns that anti-dumping and countervailing duties might apply to the equipment imported from China. To address this, UTC’s Alison Peters, senior vice president of import compliance, communicated early on with the client to ensure the proper codes were applied.
Michael Kaemerow, project director, said that in autumn 2024, the convoy of machinery began moving from the temporary storage area to the jobsite. ”The moves were done two modules at a time with police escorts. In addition, a collaboration of utility companies joined the convoy, each covering their section of the route and adjusting lines. With pole replacements now complete, the larger pieces could clear the lines. A total of 17 modules were transported in eight-night moves,” he explained.
With the entire project spanning more than two years, UTC overcame challenges which included two major floods and extreme wind conditions; testing terrain; components nearly 21 ft (6.4 m) in height; complex planning; plus, excavating barge landing areas and building a bypass bridge. Despite numerous diversions, the UTC team kept tge project on track and delivered the equipment to Hastings by the end of October 2024.
Last month, HLPFI reported that UTC had played a key role at the Baltic Power offshore wind farm.
