Coal Age Magazine - For nearly 100 years, Coal Age has been the magazine that readers can trust for guidance and insight on this important industry.
Issue link: https://coal.epubxp.com/i/174138
transport tips Morrow Pacific Project: First Coal Terminal in Pacific Northwest? BY DAVE GAMBREL At last count, there were six coal terminals in the works in the Pacific Northwest, three of which appear to have fallen by the wayside. The Morrow Pacific project, however, is moving along steadily. From a logistics and environmental point-of-view, the project is brilliant. It takes advantage of existing rail and terminal facilities, provides low-impact rail routes and adds Union Pacific Railroad (UP)-sourced coal mines to the mix. Unless their true objective for opposing a new coal terminal in the Pacific Northwest is simply to stop industrial development, environmentalists need to stifle their bloggers, soften their rhetoric, and realize a coal company to commit to taking expensive and unusual measures to protect the Pacific Northwestern environment, and to take seriously public criticism and commentary. Isn't this what the environmental movement is all about— causing big industry to take the environmental movement seriously? Ambre Energy has taken them seriously. The Project Morrow Pacific will ship intermountain coal to the Port of Morrow by train. From there, specially designed barges will move the coal to the Port of St. Helens, where it will be transferred to ocean-going (Panamax) vessels bound for U.S. trading partners on the Pacific Rim, such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The project is designed to meet Oregon's high standards. All facilities will be enclosed, barges will be covered, and all operations will be designed to eliminate dust and spillage. The Morrow Pacific project will create more than 2,100 temporary constructionrelated jobs and more than 1,000 ongoing operations-related jobs, and provide millions of dollars annually to both Columbia and Morrow. The project is being developed by Ambre Energy North America, an emerging energy leader with head offices in Salt Lake City. Barge Operations Barges will carry the coal to Port Westward Industrial Park at the Port of St. Helens. There the coal will be transferred directly to Panamax vessels, so no ground storage facilities will be needed at Port Westward. The coal will be transferred using a state-of-the-art $40-million transloading vessel utilizing special unloading gear by Siwertell, a company known for unloading bulk vessels cleanly. All stages of the transloading operation will be enclosed. In early 2012, the Port of St. Helens voted unanimously to enter into a terminal services option agreement with an Ambre subsidiary, Pacific Transloading. Ambre had special enclosed barges designed by Glosten & Associates to maximize locking efficiency in the Columbia River locks, and to eliminate the release of coal dust into the air. Tows will consist of four large barges and one towboat. Two of the barges will be 308-ft x 46-ft x 16-ft and two will be 275-ft x 46-ft x 16-ft, leaving a notch aft of the shorter barges suitable for a 4,000- to 6,000-hp, 96-ft tow boat. The estimated coal capacity of a tow would be 13,300 metric tons (mt), similar in capacity to a typical Ohio River tow. Forge Group (formerly Taggert) is designing the systems that connect the barge unloader with the ship loader, along with environmental controls, wash-down water treatment and dust control measures. Initially, Ambre anticipates shipping 3.5 million mt/y of coal to trade allies. Full operational and permitted capacity is expected to be 8 million mt annually, subject to port approval. Rail Service Unlike many of the other proposed coal terminal sites in the Pacific Northwest, the Port of Morrow already has a loop track suitable for unit trains of coal. Also, the port is served by the UP, which offers some valuable alternatives to BNSF-captive terminals. UP is capable of originating coal tonnage in the very low sulfur mines of the southern Powder River Basin (PRB), Wyoming's Hanna Basin, Utah and Colorado. BNSF can originate coal tonnage throughout the entire PRB, includ- The left image shows an aerial view of the Port of Morrow site for construction of the rail-to-barge facility. On the right, an artist's concept of the rotary dump, enclosed storage buildings, and enclosed conveyors linking rail-to-storage-to-barges. 20 www.coalage.com September 2013