Tracks that led right up to the erection site were taken up after the 113-foot absorber was installed. |
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Southern Ships Shell's Absorber 600-ton processing vessel clears bascule bridge in New Orleans by one inch
Two years ago the Shell Oil Company began planning to move a 600-ton oil absorber from Almeda, Texas, where it was being manufactured for the Shell natural gas processing plant at Toca, La.
Tracks that led right up to the erection site were taken up after the 113-foot absorber was installed. |
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An absorber is a processing vessel in which oil fed into the top flows down through holes in baffle plates and mixes with gas that bubbles up from the bottom. Oil soaks up desired substances from the gas; the plant product ( a propane, butane and natural gas mixture) is separated from the absorption oil in a still and the absorption oil is recirculated to the absorber in a continuous process.
Shell originally planned to ship the absorber by barge from Houston to New Orleans and then across land on self-crawlers to Toca. But that's when Southern and several other cooperating railroads arrived on the scene. "On these kinds of things, you've got to get in early," said George Corcoran, Southern sales representative in New Orleans.
The utilization of an all-rail route versus other modes reduced Shell's transportation cost to less than half of what it would have been.
So in late June the huge absorber became the largest and heaviest load ever handled between Houston and New Orleans. Shipment was made on two 12-axle cars with a specially built idler for spacing purposes. The combined weight of the cars and lading was 1,475,000 pounds. The absorber was 113 feet 6 inches long and 14 feet 5 inches at its widest point and 20 feet 2 inches above the rail.
Strong cranes lifted the 600-ton absorber to an erect position at the refrigerated absorption plant. |
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The heavy load traveled over Missouri Pacific, Southern Pacific, Louisiana & Arkansas, and Louisiana Southern, which is part of the Southern Railway System. The light-traffic line the load traveled on was specially upgraded months in advance to handle this shipment, and the entire route was inspected just prior to acceptance. A ticklish moment en route was when the absorber was eased over a bascule bridge spanning the Industrial Canal in New Orleans. There was only one inch of clearance between the load and the bridge.
The Shell Oil Company had built a spur into its facility just for this special freight train service and for two other shipments, a 200-ton deethanizer and a 120 ton still that were handled as normal loads.
"The track led right up to where the absorber was to be erected," explained Charles C. Smoot, transportation assistant, Control and Coordination Center, Atlanta. "Cranes on each side of the track began lifting the giant absorber as the cars were run under them. Then when workers got the absorber erect, the cars were pulled out, the track removed, and the huge vessel placed on its foundation."
The Toca facility is qperated by Shell for 13 gasproducer owners. According to Russell Ness, Shell project engineer, each day this refrigerated absorption plant can remove 400,000 gallons of liquified petroleum gas from 600,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas produced from offshore Louisiana.
