June 16 - The Bickerdike Basin at the Port of Montreal was the theatre for a spectacular operation.
A 784 tonne vacuum tower measuring 50.6 metres long, 16.8 metres wide and 13 metres in diameter was transhipped from a specialist heavy lift ship onto a barge that is carrying it to Burns Harbor, Indiana, on the south shore of Lake Michigan.
Used by the oil industry to process crude oil, this piece of equipment - one of the largest ever to transit through the Port of Montreal - was loaded in Spain on Jumbo Javelin, which can carry loads of up to 1,800 tonnes and is equipped with two 900 tonne-capacity cranes, is one of 14 heavy lift ships operated by Netherlands-based Jumbo Shipping.
The barge belongs to Canal Barge Company, based in Louisiana and is being propelled to Burns Harbour by a tugboat from the Ontario company Mckeil Marine.
The Bickerdike Terminal is operated by the Empire Stevedoring Company. Jumbo Shipping is represented in Montreal by Montship Inc.
