ANDRIE SHIPS JACK-UP BARGE TO CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA

January 2007.  The Andrie Jack-Up Barge is in transit to Castlegar, British Columbia.  Eighteen permitted tractor trailers were needed to truck the Jack-Up Barge from Muskegon, Michigan to British Columbia.  It is about 2167 miles and a 5 day transit.  The trucks cleared the border between the USA and Canada in three different locations:  Sault St. Marie, Ontario; Emerson, Manitoba; and N. Portal, Saskatchewan.

The Jack-Up Barge will be used on the Brilliant Dam Expansion Project.

The Brilliant Expansion Project has leased the Vessel from Andrie to enable the Project team to complete construction of the Dam.  The Vessel is a unique type of barge that stands still on the river floor by four jacking spuds.  The jacking spuds are moved up and down by a hydraulic system, and the entire barge can be jacked up when the jacking spuds are touching the river floor.  The barge acts as a kind of platform from which final construction of the Dam can take place.

The Brilliant Expansion Project had no choice but to lease this specialized jack-up barge following the 2006 Voctoria Day weekend on the  Kootenay River, which was marked by warm weather and evacuation warnings for local residents.  The combination of large amounts of snowfall from the previous winter followed by unseasonably warm weather experienced in the area resulted in a flood that had not been seen in at least 30 years.  As a result of the flooding, the construction ramp on the low water side of the Brilliant Expansion Project was completely washed out by the rushing waters.  As work on the low side of the dam is nearing completion, a decision was made to use a jack-up barge instead to avoid this type of problem.

The Vessel itself is a highly complex, massive piece of Marine equipment which takes 18 truckloads to be delivered to the site.  Once delivered, all 18 truckloads of equipment must be assembled to render the Vessel functional as a jack-up barge.  Under contract terms, our Andrie crew will be responsible for supervising the assembly, set-up and operation of the Vessel throughout the term of the Lease.  The actual assembly and operational work will be performed by the Canadian technicians and sub-contractors; however.  Andrie is obliged to assign two experts to supervise, on-site, the Vessel's assembly, set-up and subsequent operation.

For more information contact Phil Andrie (philandrie@andrie.com)
or call 1-800-722-2421.

   Loading out the Jack-Up Barge at the Muskegon Grand Trunk Dock.

           Starting to load the Jack-Up

  Barge in Castlegar, British Columbia

The Jack-Up Barge fully assembled in Castlegar, British Columbia.