Crowley Maritime Corp.’s energy and marine services group provides transportation, logistics, and project management services in some of the most challenging environments in the world.
Recently, Crowley was selected by Sakhalin Energy and its partners to provide marine logistics for the delivery of supplies and modules to build an onshore processing facility at the remote Lunskoye Beach site on Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East. Crowley was tasked to deliver 54 liquefied natural gas (LNG) modules, the heaviest weighing 738,000 lbs (335 metric tons).
The team decided to use a 240 ft (73 m) barge as a transition between the larger 400 ft x 100 ft (122 m x 30.5 m) barges that carried the modules from Korea and Japan. It was placed on the beach, ballasted, and anchored in position. Sixty-foot long by 10-ft (18-m x 3-m) wide steel ramps in pairs capable of handing 600,000 lbs (272 metric tons) were used to bridge between the transition barge and transport barges. To make the situation even more challenging, the ramps could not weigh more than 30 tons (27 metric tons) each for safe handling by crane when being set into position but had to be able to support a 300-ton (272-metric ton) load.
In the Gulf of Mexico deepwater, exploration continues to grow rapidly, and Crowley is operating tugs and barges in the region with an extensive fleet of ISM/ISO 9002 certified high-horsepower tugs and ocean-going barges, including new Heavy-Lift Series 400 ft x 105 ft x 25 ft (122 m x 32 m x 7.6 m) deck barges. The newest heavy-lift series barges offer increased stability, and allow for loads up to 4,200 lb/sq ft (20,506 kg/sq m) to carry the larger offshore structures now being planned and engineered for deepwater projects.
