BREWER, Maine — The third load of locally built refinery modules arrived at its destination in Texas on Wednesday and the process to unload the five modules, some of the heaviest built to date, began Thursday, according to a Cianbro Corp. spokesman.
“Project manager Scott Clements says the modules should be completely off-loaded no later than Friday morning, with a Friday or Saturday departure on the schedule” for the return trip to Maine, said spokesman Alan Grover said in an e-mail.
The Emma Foss, a 100-foot seafaring tugboat, again guided the 94-by-354-foot Columbia Boston barge carrying the modules along the 2,300 miles between Cianbro’s Eastern Manufacturing Facility in Brewer to the Port Arthur Refinery in Port Arthur, Texas.
The load of modules left Brewer on Aug. 12 and took exactly 14 days to make the trip to the Gulf Coast refinery.
Hurricane Bill, which caused dangerous weather along the Eastern Seaboard, “completely bypassed the vessels,” Grover said. However, “Tropical Storm Anna caused a little more concern last Wednesday for the tug crew, who put into port at Brunswick, Ga., for 24 hours to let Anna pass harmlessly.”
The modules — heavy-duty industrial steel frames filled with pipes, pumps and wiring — arrived at the Port Arthur Refinery’s bulkhead on Wednesday but could not be unloaded because of thunderstorms in the Gulf, Grover said.
The modules, which can be as tall as six stories and weigh 700 tons, are too big to travel by roads or rail and must be moved by water.
With the third load in port, Pittsfield-based Cianbro has delivered 13 of the 53 refinery modules ordered by Motiva Enterprises LLC, which produces Shell Oil brand products, for its $7 billion expansion.
The Emma Foss and Columbia Boston are expected to depart for Maine today or Saturday, Grover said.
“The barge will be loaded with 18 large temporary transport beams for the return trip to Ma ine,” he said.
The fourth shipment is expected to leave Brewer in October.
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