Piece By Piece: Team effort moves massive rig cross country

SHOAL POINT, Nfld. — Not all freight is designed for just-in-time deliveries. When it comes to the finer points of hauling a load in excess of 3.5 million pounds, safety takes precedence over time.

“Safety is a big factor when you’re moving that kind of equipment, especially across Canada in the winter,” noted Greer Hunt, president of Hunt’s Transport. “They [Canadian Imperial Venture] knew that and did not put the pressure on us.”

Hunt’s provided the wheels for a load that took more than two weeks and involved 58 trucks — all for one piece of equipment.

Earlier this year, Nabors #45 Rig began its journey from Alberta to Shoal Point, Nfld. The rig will be used to drill a directional hole from an onshore surface location on Shoal Point, to an offshore target under Port au Port Bay.

The move was originally supposed to be made for Canadian Imperial Venture around Christmas time, but Hunt’s decided it would be safer to wait until after the holiday season and the highways were a little less congested.

“We won the job not only on our rate, but also on our safety and experience,” added Hunt. “We moved an oil rig of similar size, although not quite as big, for Talisman Energy, out of Newfoundland and down into Ohio.”

The St. John’s, Nfld.-based carrier has a fair bit of experience moving drilling rigs and equipment for mining projects. In November, Hunt’s had a warm up haul, using about 17 trucks, to transport a rig from Estevan, Sask. to the carrier’s branch in Cambridge, Ont.

“That one is sitting at our yard now, but will go out to Newfoundland in the next little while,” Hunt told us.

With the cross-country move of the Nabors rig, Hunt had to call upon some contract help to get the job done. Hunt’s operates 50 company trucks and 85 trailers, but in an effort not to tie up all their trucks, the carrier used mostly contractors to do the job, and put in some added effort to make sure the people hired to move the rig had sufficient experience.

“Our fleet is primarily flatbed, so our drivers are trained for that kind of work,” said Hunt. “With over-dimension loads, there’s usually a set of drivers who do that for us.”

Co-ordinating a move of this magnitude also requires a great deal of route planning.

“That’s definitely one of the challenges, but we have experience with it,” added Hunt. “You get restricted by the different provinces because they all have different regulations and different routes they want you to travel.”

The varying speeds of oversize loads also contribute to the length of time it takes to complete the move. While the legal loads could make the nearly 6,000 km trip in six to eight days, the oversize loads would take about twice as long.

About 15 trucks departed Wild Rose Country each day until all 58 trucks were en route to Newfoundland. A mix of legal and oversize trucks was loaded each day in an effort to add to the safety aspect of the move.

“The normal loads could go at their own pace, while the over-dimensional trucks had to go slower and stop at hotels and motels so the pilot-car drivers could sleep,” explained Hunt. “There’s a big safety dimension involved and you don’t want to have 15 trucks in one line on the highway.”