Solving Complex Problems

Solving Complex Problems

Assembling resources and leveraging our experience to solve our customers’ complex problems is a hallmark of Patriot Rail and Ports. We know we have the people, facilities, equipment, and ingenuity to address any client need. All four elements were required when our team worked with a client to creatively upcycle an item common around the port and ship that item to one of the most extreme regions on earth.

Shipping Containers to the Arctic Circle

Our customer, in this case, was conducting long-term work near the Arctic Circle and needed to prefabricate dwellings to withstand the harsh conditions. The solution was to connect and convert multiple shipping containers into homes with functional rooms, including offices and sanitary facilities.

The customer had the containers delivered to our Savannah port facility, where our team pre-configured and staged them in a safe location. The customer then had carpenters, electricians, and other contractors come out to insulate, manufacture, and section out the container homes. In total, the project took about four months to complete. 

Throughout the build, our team continually assisted with any moves or creative stacking needed to advance the project toward completion. Our customer created multiple container configurations with some as large as ten containers wide by four containers high. Once the construction phase was complete, that’s when our team fully took control to demonstrate their stevedoring expertise and ingenuity.

Building a Bridge With Water

Due to the sheer size and weight of the container structures, they could not be placed on a vessel by crane. The container dwellings had to be driven on by heavy haulers and then secured. Our team would need to construct a bridge between the dock and the barge. However, not just any bridge would do. This bridge would have to remain level at all times so the structures would not fall off the ship on an incline or decline.

To accomplish this task, the Savannah stevedoring team employed a resource even more plentiful at the port than shipping containers: water. It was pumped in at high tide to lower the ship to dock level and pumped out at low tide to raise it. Vigilance was required to maintain the tidal schedule, and the team had to be efficient within established safety parameters to get the structures secured for their journey north.

Savannah Operations Manager Trey Lowery has been in the industry for over 30 years and counts this experience as one of the wildest things he has seen.

“It was amazing,” he said. “It was definitely a trip.”

Solving Complex Client Challenges Is Routine Business

This was a particularly unique request, but it’s only one example of the intricate work our teams perform daily at facilities across the country.  Given our extensive resources and talented teams, Patriot Rail and Ports is more than capable of routinely solving even the most complex client challenges.

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