The first group of grain conveyor towers has been towed out of Patricia Bay to be set up at Richard International Ltd.’s expanded terminal in North Vancouver.
The three towers were manufactured by Ramsay Machine Works on the Saanich Peninsula, which will be sending off another 10. The next three are to leave the company’s barge dock in Pat Bay early Wednesday morning.
Because of the massive size of these 12.2-metre-tall towers, Ramsay must use Victoria International Airport’s runway to reach the dock. Ramsay is used to using the runway in the wee hours. It rolls its huge products along the runway between the final flight at the airport at night and when it opens for business in the morning.
Ramsay Group Ltd. is a family-owned company that is more than a century old.
The ability to make a delivery to a customer without having to the cross highways helps the company compete, Trevor Tasker, Ramsay’s director of business development, said Monday.
In this case, the three towers were moved via large dollies to the dock, he said.
Getting towers onto the barge and secured once on board requires precise engineering. A tower “has got to be kept level at all times,” Tasker said.
Towers are moved up a three-degree ramp to the barge and, during that process, dollies are tilted to achieve that goal.
Once on board, towers are secured by chains, welded into place.
The job of building the 13 towers is providing work for 30 employees. This project started in July and will finish in February, Tasker said.
The value of the contract is not being released.
The largest towers weigh about 31,750 kilograms, he said. Some smaller ones will be closer to about nine metres tall and weigh 27,215 kg.
Once in their new home, the towers will be mounted on top of 42-metre-tall annexes as part of the conveyor system.
Ramsay has already sent 28 grain hoppers to Richardson Terminal, which handles about three million tonnes of grain and oilseeds every year. It is a major exporter of canola and cereal grains to Pacific Rim countries, its website states.
More capacity is needed to be able to handle five million tonnes annually. This led to a project to add a new concrete grain storage facility able to hold 80,000 tonnes of grains and oilseeds.
