deugro Japan, in collaboration with local teams of deugro U.S., delivered a wide range of oversized and heavy lift (OSHL) components for a large petrochemical project.
The cargo, including nearly 530 TEU and over 50 metric tons of airfreight, was transported from over 20 global seaports and airports to the project site in Texas, U.S.
The OSHL units were picked up in 14 different countries and shipped to Port Arthur, Texas, for the final on-carriage to the project site by barge and truck.
Cargo pick-up, as well as vessel loading, stowing, and load securing operations at the various loading ports, were coordinated by deugro Tokyo, acting as the project control tower.
deugro said in a statement that altogether, 10 heavy lift vessels were fully or partly chartered for the ocean voyages in collaboration with deugro's own chartering department.
"One of the full-charter vessels, which was booked for a shipment from Korea nearly one year prior to the shipment, missed the agreed laycan due to the effects of the Red Sea crisis. However, thanks to our strategic partnerships with the carriers, we were able to find and charter another heavy lift vessel with the required capacity one month prior to laycan," said Haruka Somura, General Manager at deugro Japan.
"This enabled us to prevent significant project delays and extra costs for the client and the project owner," he added.
After arriving at Port Arthur, the majority of the components were directly transferred from the vessels to various deck barges.
deugro said the most challenging cargo units transported were an over 540-metric tonne C2 splitter with a volume of 68.60 x 9.76 meters and a 375-metric tonne over the 54-metric-long caustic tower.
To safely and efficiently accommodate the respective sizes, weights, and individual characteristics of the components, various-sized barges were arranged for by deugro Houston.
"Due to the extreme barge shortage in the market, combined with several vessels arriving at the same time at the discharge port, deugro developed a plan to reuse and efficiently turn around some of the hired barge assets," said Gert Jensen, senior vice president, operations, at deugro U.S.
"This was particularly challenging and had to be meticulously designed since any delays caused, for instance, by weather or congestion could have potentially delayed the vessel operations with significant additional costs as a consequence," he added.
deugro noted that upon arriving at the MOF, various self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT) configurations picked up the individual cargo units and rolled them off the barges via a newly constructed dock. After a total of 17 barge voyages, all international and domestic cargo was successfully delivered.
"The overall project scope, with its considerable number of challenging OSHL cargo components, interfaces, vessel and barge voyages, overland trips, and trans-loading operations, in conjunction with the strict delivery sequences of the construction site, required meticulous preparation, proactive coordination, and closest communication between all parties involved," said Jensen of deugro U.S.
