With an expansion in the works, a Central Point, OR power station wanted to have a spare transformer on hand. They contracted with a freight forwarding company to have the 242,000-pound transformer transported overseas to the station. However, the Port of Tacoma, where the transformer and its five accessory containers would arrive, lacked barge and rail service to finish the journey.

Needing to secure safe and reliable OTR transport between the port and the pad, the freight forwarding company retained Omega Morgan’s Portland specialized transportation team. Our heavy haul team, with support from the machinery moving and logistics departments, got to work planning the multi-step, multi-service solution.

PLANNING A WORLD-CLASS HEAVY HAUL

With a finite amount of time before the ship would arrive, our specialized transportation team began by applying for the necessary permits through the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). We then built a transport configuration to handle the transformer—measuring 21’2” long by 13’3” wide by 15’1” high—and completed a route survey to ensure our journey to Central Point would be clear and efficient.

Two weeks before the ship’s arrival, a new challenge struck: the transformer’s weight details were updated to 255,000 pounds, 13,000 pounds more than previously expected. Our teams immediately reapplied for permits with both the Oregon and Washington Departments of Transportation, knowing that it would take at least 30 days to receive them. Fortunately, we could park the transformer at the dock until our permits came through, and—as experts at thinking on our feet—we developed a flexible plan that could change depending on when we received each permit.

FLEXIBLE SPECIALIZED TRANSPORT EXECUTION IN ACTION

When we received word that the ship had arrived at the Port of Tacoma, our specialized transportation and machinery moving crews and equipment mobilized to meet it. Without a ship crane or an adequate port crane to handle the load, a floating crane was brought in to offload the transformer and its five accessory containers.

Omega Morgan’s specialized transportation team lashed the transformer onto our dual-lane trailer and removed it from the dock before parking it in the designated area while we waited for the permit to come through. Meanwhile, the machinery moving team received the five 40-foot accessory containers from the ship and transported them to our Fife yard via step deck trailers.

Once at the yard, the heavy machinery crew removed the crates from the containers and loaded them onto trucks for transport by the logistics department. Then, the machinery moving team returned the containers to the Port of Tacoma, while our logistics crew transported the accessory crates to the Central Point station using a partner carrier.

The WSDOT permits came through first, enabling our five-person specialized transportation team to return to the port and transport the transformer to our Fife yard. There we staged in preparation for the remaining journey. We also had to weigh and measure the transport configuration by the Washington State Highway Patrol. Finally, the ODOT permits arrived, and the team began the three-night route to the station pad.

As our specialized transportation team arrived at the pad, transformer in tow, we realized that the foundation was atypical. Instead of a solid pad, it was made of 15 evenly spaced pilings, which is more efficient to construct. To make installing the transformer possible, the crew filled in between the pilings with cribbing, creating a flat surface. Then, we jack and slid the transformer onto the pad and finished offloading the accessory crates previously delivered by OM logistics.

Both our customer—the freight forwarding company—and the owner of the transformer were very pleased with the end result and appreciated our ability to be flexible while remaining efficient and safe.