Shipping your large, fabricated steel structure is no small
task.
Large fabrication modules come with their own unique set of transportation
challenges when it comes to shipping to site. Careful coordination and advanced
planning is needed for successful and seamless transportation, right from the
initial design stage up until the shipment is unloaded on your jobsite.
Here’s three things you should
consider before planning to ship your large-scale fabrication module to avoid
risks:
Module transportation shipping times
Road ban season and just-in-time delivery are
two of the main considerations project planners should take into account when
planning to ship a large, fabricated module.
Road ban season is one of the main challenges when it comes to shipping large modules. Every spring, the weight for commercial vehicles and the goods they are carrying is restricted on many provincial and municipal roads. This restriction helps to protect roads from damage caused by heavy-weight traffic. Hence the term “road ban season.”
This is very important to take into consideration during the project planning phase, as the delivery date will usually have to be planned around road ban season. It is also important to remember that if your shipping routes cross multiple provinces or states, each province or state has its own set of regulations and road ban restrictions may differ from province to province/state to state.
Planning in advance and communicating with
regulatory bodies is essential. This includes the Ministry of Transportation,
freight providers, any Rural Municipalities (RMs), provincial highways and
other regulatory bodies as needed.
Ideally, the minimum to begin transport management plans and route studies for large modules is six months ahead of the projected shipping date.
With spring being a common time for road
bans, a project’s schedule may need to be altered to work around shipping
during the road ban season.
Just-in-time delivery is exactly what it sounds like. Multiple project sections or modules can be built off-site simultaneously, or in sequence, then shipped to the site for just-in-time delivery and installation.
One of the main benefits of just-in-time delivery
is delivering a large module and its components at the exact point in the
project’s schedule when it’s ready for installation, which minimizes or
eliminates double handling and site laydown congestion.
Meanwhile, up until the installation time, other construction work can be completed or prepared on
location concurrently, such as foundational or site infrastructure work.
To ensure just-in-time delivery, it’s
essential to communicate any change in timelines with your
assembly/modularization company and other contractors. If issues arise delaying
when the large module will need to be installed, this can affect the delivery
schedule.
Choosing to ship your large module for just-in-time delivery, helps to maintain a project’s schedule as
efficiently as possible, while keeping costs low through minimizing double-handling and site congestion.
Be sure to consider road ban season, and take advantage of just-in-time delivery when timing the shipment of your large fabricated steel structure.
Design for shipping and transportation
Properly and meticulously designing your steel fabrication
structure strategically, with shipping in mind is paramount for transportation
success.
Here are factors to consider when designing your module for safe and flawless transport:
- Dimensions of modules
- Centre of gravity
- Weight (does structure need to be fabricated in
multiple modules for assembly on-site) - Module support points
A solid large-scale fabrication company with many years of
experience shipping large-scale, specialty fabrication projects will take the
above factors into account in the design and planning stage, and design your
project to meet these factors for flawless transport, with cost-savings in
mind.
Remote location challenges
Remotely-located industrial jobsites come with their own unique challenges when it comes to
transportation.
One of these factors includes if there are adequate roadways built to transport the steel module from the main roadways directly to the site. In some cases, special roads built just for site transportation may need to be constructed prior, which takes considerable coordination with the Ministry of Transportation and the RM the jobsite falls under.
Additional transportation challenges for remotely-located industrial jobsites include the coordination of offloading the fabrication project onsite. Many specialized professionals are required for the safe offloading of the steel module onsite, such as crane operators and other industry professionals. It is very costly to have these professionals travel to remote locations and be on standby until the module arrives. This makes it very important to consider every aspect that may hinder the delivery, so that that it can be proactively mitigated ahead of time so standby costs for these professionals is not incurred.
Other factors to consider
Aside from choosing the right time to ship your large module, designing it for successful transportation and considering factors unique to remotely located, some of the other factors you should consider before transporting your large, fabricated module include:
- Insurance (if shipping is part of scope, covered by fabrication company to site – always clarify at what point the insurance covers up to so there are no gaps in coverage)
- Power lines that may interfere with your transportation, particularly if you have a very tall module
- Third party professionals and regulatory bodies that you may need to coordinate with for permits and authorization, who often have their own timelines for approval.
While transporting your large fabricated steel structure is
no small task, with careful consideration in the design stage, proactive route
study planning and communication with third party professionals and regulatory
bodies, you can ensure that your module is delivered to site seamlessly,
without unnecessary headaches.
Saskarc has nearly 30 years of experience providing superior steel fabrication solutions achieved by combining project analysis, stakeholder communications and design innovation for large scale modularization. Due to the versatility of Saskarc’s custom steel fabrication capabilities and project management expertise, we are equipped to fabricate and assemble oversized modules limited only by
transportation regulations. When it comes to large projects, Saskarc is your turnkey professional fabrication solution. See what our customers have to say about working with us and contact us today to learn more about how we can make your fabrication project a success by utilizing our expertise and modularization.
