During an outage at a refinery in California, Barnhart completed a removal and replacement of seven old and seven new vessels that required hauling from just outside the refinery gate to within the facility. Barnhart mobilized self-propelled modular trailers (SPMTs) to support the haul and provided engineering securement for early arriving vessels like the orifice chamber, which was offloaded during pre-turnaround in the laydown yard.
Due to the different sizes of the vessels, Barnhart supplied operated 10-line/12-line and 8-line SPMTs and a crew of riggers to support them. Barnhart placed the old vessels on stands and beams and hauled them on the SPMTs into the laydown area. The biggest challenge was controlling the travel path through the refinery, which was used by all vehicles within the plant.
The longest and heaviest vessel was the D205 at 96 feet long with a weight of 205,000 pounds. The safe loading of the D205 to the SPMT required a crew of three riggers. The vessel then had to travel within the site to a unit on the opposite side of the refinery.
The D205 was delivered successfully to the unit. The project was part of the biggest turnaround in the history of the facility.