When Plan A didn’t work for the shipment of 12 oversize loads of electrical smoothing reactors from Toronto to the Canadian province of Alberta, motor carrier Precision Specialized Division used the Great Lakes to succeed with Plan B.

Precision was approached in early 2014 about moving 212 loads, including 12 smoothing reactors, to four locations in Alberta. Loaded dimensions of the six largest reactors were 109 feet long; 15 feet, five inches wide; and 18 feet, six inches high, and gross weight just under 200,000 pounds. Six other reactors were slightly smaller.

Ed Bernard, Precision’s vice president of operations, said the company’s feasibility study indicated that accessorial costs for road transportation through Ontario alone would be about $1.5 million to cover costs including utilities, police, surveys, media advertising, and vehicles to announce the approaching oversize loads.

But the cost of the over-the-road route became moot when Ontario officials denied a permit for the shipment, citing height limitations and spring construction that closed highways in the northern part of the province.

Back to the drawing board went Precision. Two weeks later, the company came up with a three-part plan: truck the reactors to the Port of Oshawa near Toronto; transport them by ship to Duluth, Minnesota; and haul them over the road to Alberta. The transit totaled 1,500 miles by road and 1,600 nautical miles through the Great Lakes.

“We presented our proposal to the client in the morning, and that afternoon, they said, ‘Let’s go with it,’” Bernard said. “That doesn’t happen often.”

The actual move was a spectacle. Six trucks made two round trips, accompanied by a convoy of more than 60 police officers, utility workers in pickups and bucket trucks, and Precision staff. Onlookers lined roadsides, watching as if the circus had come to town. The scene was especially lively when the convoy crossed from one municipality to another, necessitating a change in the police escort.

At Oshawa, the reactors were loaded onto a Spliethoff ship, using shipboard cranes, and were stowed under deck. After a five-day voyage through lakes Ontario and Superior, they arrived at Duluth, where they were met by the same six trucks and trailers that had handled the first leg of the move. From Duluth the reactors were driven to their destinations in central Alberta. The 200 smaller pieces moved over the road the entire trip.

The move was accomplished with no recordable injuries, incidents or illnesses, and on-time and on-budget. It was cited as the Hauling Job of the Year Under 160,000 Pounds by the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association.

Bernard said it was a thrill to see the plan fall into place. “It took a lot of planning and work,” he said. “Seeing that convoy move through the town, under a clear blue sky, was exciting to witness.” 

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