When ever the subject is power generating plants, ABB (Asea Brown Boveri) is a name recognized around the world. Their power generators are installed in many countries around the world.

All of the components for this project originated in Sweden. Prior to the commencement of this project, Ronald Hiemann traveled to Sweden to meet with the management of ABB to discuss project details. Additional meetings were held with J.H. Bachmann of Bremen, Germany, the Seajet partner for this project. During the 3 years of this project, Seajet dealt with cargoes arriving on 7 break-bulk charter vessels, which docked at the Mystic Pier terminal in Charlestown, adjacent to Boston, MA.

Along with the break-bulk cargo, every time M/V Opsterland docked in Boston, she also carried 2 ABB transformers. Each one was the size of a single-car garage and had a weight of about 145 metric tons.

There was no local crane available to handle the unloading of such heavy equipment. There was only one crane available on the East coast of the USA to handle such heavy loads. Seajet hired this swimming crane in Baltimore for a period of 1 year. It was tied-up in a side channel next to Mystic, right below Tobin Bridge. The crane was used once every 2 months to unload 2 transformers off of the Opsterland. Each lifting operation was billed at a rate of $35,000.00

To move the transformers to Ayer, MA (the location of the New England Hydro power station), required special equipment. The only rigging company able to handle such heavy equipment was Almas International out of California. The special trailer is shown in the photo above.  Between a puller and a pusher truck, the entire rig was about 150 feet long! The delivery from Charlestown to Ayer happened at walking speed, literally. It could be done only on weekends and to travel a distance of about 46 miles took about 9 hours! The rig was not allowed to leave Charlestown before 2300 hours on Saturday and the move had to be completed by 0900 hours on Sunday morning. State and local police escorts were required and every time, utility trucks from the electric, telephone and cable TV companies were on hand to lift wires where ever they were hanging too low to allow the rig to pass under. Each transformer move was billed by Almas at a rate of $145,000

A year after this project was over, ABB was contracted to deliver 2 additional but much smaller transformers. Seajet handled this delivery through the Port of Newark, NJ and transported them on the railroad to Ayer, where they were unloaded from the railcars onto special equipment hired from Shaughnessy & Ahern in Boston.

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