SC Ports Authority recently handled one of its heaviest energy project moves to date, a 1.5 million pound Westinghouse Electric Company steam generator for the South Carolina Electric & Gas Company nuclear power plant expansion near Columbia, SC.

The generator was off-loaded from the BBC AQUAMARINE directly onto a Schnabel car, a specialty railcar designed to transport heavy and oversized loads. The 36-axle railcar, among the largest of its type in the world, transported the equipment from Charleston to the V.C. Summer site in Jenkinsville, SC where two Westinghouse AP1000� nuclear power plants are under construction.

"Today’s activities demonstrate the high, wide and heavy capabilities of our Columbus Street Terminal, the premier breakbulk and roll on-roll off cargo facility in the Southeast," said Jim Newsome, SCPA president and CEO. "This project is a significant contributor to our volume growth in the breakbulk business segment, and the movement of oversized cargo also boosts maritime and transportation jobs."

SCPA will handle three additional steam generators of the same size over the next year.

"Our partnership with SCPA on this project has been very positive," said Carl Rossi, Westinghouse Electric Company’s director of Global Logistics. "We’ve experienced great coordination between the port and Palmetto Railways, and SCPA has been accommodating of our needs and flexible as engineering design changes required unique testing on port facilities."

SCPA renovated the Columbus Street Terminal in 2011, broadening on-dock rail, storage and heavy-lift capabilities for project cargo and other breakbulk cargoes, including autos and other rolling stock.