The largest pieces of cargo — 500-ton cylinders — were taken off the Stellanova and loaded onto 12-axle railcars.

The Dutch vessel Stellanova paid a mid-October call to the port with 36 enormous pieces of Japanese-built equipment destined for northern Alberta. Five of the pieces weighed in excess of 500 tons each.

The Rotterdam-based vessel carried the first of two shipments through the port destined for the Athabasca Oil Sands Project, a $3.5 billion oil sands mine, extraction and upgrading development.

The second shipment of 56 pieces, including seven exceeding 500 tons, was due onboard the vessel Fairlift in late November. Both vessels are operated by Jumbo, a heavy-lift shipping company headquartered in Rotterdam.

Clure Public Marine Terminal operator Lake Superior Warehousing Co., Inc., oversaw unloading of the Stellanova's 36 pieces of equipment onto a dozen specially designed 12-axle railcars. There are only 28 such heavy-load railcars available in North America.

The Stellanova makes her way into Port.

Sixteen of the cars were scheduled for the November shipment.

"These shipments will represent the largest multiple loads ever carried over U.S. and Canadian railways," said Ed Clarke, materials management representative for Fluor Daniel Canada, Inc., transportation contractor for the project.

"Duluth was selected as the North American port of entry because of a combination of its excellent facilities for dimensional cargoes and the rail clearances between the port and the job site."

The Athabasca Oil Sands Project, scheduled for completion in the fall of 2002, involves removing sand from the earth that is impregnated with oil, separating the two and then using new technology to upgrade the oil to a usable product.