The Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association announced Emmert International, Clackamas, Ore., won its Hauling Job of the Year Award
in both the Hauling over 160,000 Pounds (net) category and the Hauling under 160,000 Pounds (net) category.

Emmert International hauled three huge pieces of equipment used to manufacture high-purity semiconductor grade silicone hundreds of miles under considerable physical and scheduling constraints.

The first piece ready for shipment was the diclorosilane (DCS) column, the smallest of the three vessels. At the fabrication site in Vancouver, Wash., Emmert's crews loaded the vessel onto an 8-dolly transporter system, moved the load to a nearby staging area and fitted it with safety lighting to await travel at night, when traffic in the metro area would be lightest.

Weighing in at 404,000 pounds gross, the 201-foot long by 16 foot 8-inch high by 20-foot wide load had to cross the Glen Jackson Bridge over the Columbia River from Washington into Oregon. As it moved east on Interstate 84, the transporter required two lanes while facing grades up to 6 percent.

After traveling about 275 miles in Oregon, the crews maneuvered onto the McNary Highway to cross back into Washington and pressed on another 200 miles to the project site near Moses Lake. A low bridge on the main highway necessitated a detour onto country roads. Emmert used five 55-foot barge ramps and five 40-foot barge ramps to jump two county bridges with a weight limit of 40 tons.

Emmert loaded the equipment onto standard flatbed trailers and returned with the empty transporter equipment to the same fabrication facility in Vancouver.

The remaining two pieces were transported by barge to Pasco, Wash., after which they took the same route as the DCS column. The transporter for the loaded and secured triclorosilane (TCS) column weighed 383,000 pounds gross and measured 197 feet 2 inches long by 18 feet wide and 18 feet high. The third piece, the Hydrogenator, measured 207 feet by 10 inches long, 10 feet 1 inch high and 20 feet 10 inches wide -- a 500,904-gross-pound transport system.

The job required 12 months for the planning and permitting process.

In January 2007, a fabrication company in Houston called upon Emmert International's Texas location to transport a 60,000-pound cyclone measuring 84 feet long, 23 feet 11 inches wide and 25 feet 10 inches high. Cyclones are simple mechanical devices that convert rotational energy into a centrifugal force to separate materials of different densities-solid particles from a compressible fluid such as air and gas.

The route required the load to travel 12 miles through town from the fabrication shop to the Shintech dock in Freeport, Texas. There Emmert would load the fabricated cyclone onto an awaiting barge and lash it for transport.

After getting state DOT approval, Emmert scheduled two police escorts to assist with traffic control and passenger vehicle safety. This step was vital because the load would require two lanes of travel along the specified route.

Emmert also contacted and scheduled the local power company to meet the transportation crew at designated areas to lift high voltage wires, allowing safe passage of the load underneath without incident. Additionally, Emmert arranged for bucket trucks to lift all other overhead obstructions, such as traffic signals and other wires along the route.