Power plant for Montana poses special set of problems

LEONARD NEILL THE MOVEMENT of a second-hand power plant from South Africa to Hardin in Montana, USA presented its own special set of problems for project cargo management group F H Bertling. The project enquiry for the plant, to be used for power generation in the local Indian reservation, started two years ago. “I undertook a route survey, flying to Seattle, Hardin and Duluth,” says sales and marketing director Mike Benney. “Initially we looked at the possibility of shipping the goods to the port of Duluth in the Great Lakes region, which can only be reached in the summer months, and even surveyed the possibility of shipping to Houston, Texas and railing the equipment northwards. “In the end, however, we settled on shipping to Montreal and then railing the cargo onwards to the final destination. Due to limited shipping opportunities some of the cargo was shipped through New Orleans on a part charter basis, which was identified during our planning. We had Bertling teams from the company’s US offices handling the movements in both Montreal and New Orleans.” The total logistics was handled through the South African headquarters at Jet Park, near Johannesburg International Airport, with 9 000 freight tons of equipment moving from Estcourt via Durban and 3000 freight tons being moved from Riga Croatia. This included heavy material such as lifts up to 75 tons and columns, with lengths of 28 meters. Everything went to order, says Benney. “It is imperative that you do your homework as the learning curve can be severe for this type of project,” he says. With its current warehouse space of 3 000m2 under cover at Jet Park, serviced by a 40ton gantry, under increasing pressure from ongoing projects, the company is considering doubling capacity.