AML pioneers upright transport of tanks to Prudhoe Bay

"From a logistics professional’s standpoint this was a great case study," says Tom Hendrix, Materials and Logistics Advisor for Lynden customer Santos. "We needed to ship five oversized tanks from the Pacific Northwest to the North Slope of Alaska. We were expecting to move them on saddles positioned horizontally on the barge."

But during a planning meeting at the tank fabricator’s facility, Alaska Marine Lines Director of Marine Operations Brian Ward suggested moving the 80,000-pound tanks vertically. "That idea drove the conversation to ask what it would take," Tom says. Alaska Marine Lines hired engineering firm Hockema to work with fabricator TBailey to install doubler plates with seafasting lugs on the 24-foot diameter by 65-foot high tanks to strengthen them for a vertical transport position. "This was built into the fabrication plan on the front end and saved the project time and money as well as saving space on the barge," Tom explains.

The original concept required additional crane support to tip the tanks into a horizontal position when loading at the Port of Anacortes with two cranes on the North Slope to lift back into a vertical position. "We improved our plan to purchase the final lift rigging and leave it attached to the tanks which saved extra risk and exposure rigging and removing the lifting straps both at offload and the construction site," Tom says. "AML also let us use the 16-foot endless straps used for seafasting to rig tiedowns on the trucks that were used to transport the tanks 55 miles to the final location."

The tanks were picked up at the Port of Anacortes and loaded onto the barge for the voyage to Oliktok Point, just west of Prudhoe Bay. "The most unusual part of the move was the sheer size of the tanks, and the upright transport. To my knowledge, this has never been done before, at least at AML," Brian explains. "Being involved in advance planning with the customer and the manufacturer from the beginning was helpful as we were able to modify the design together."

The new vertical method also improved loading and discharging cycle times at both ports. "Jon Satre and the AML team assisted in pre-rigging the tanks in the fabricator’s yard prior to loading at Anacortes to further speed up the loading process," Tom says. "The advance planning, engagement and idea sharing greatly benefited the project. It was a seamless move from end to end."