Fermilab National Laboratory in Batavia, IL is a major partner in the
Large Hadron Collider(LHC) project at CERN(the European Particle Physics Laboratory),
located near Geneva, Switzerland. The LHC ring, which is 27 kilometers in circumference,
will initially have two general purpose detectors: CMS and Atlas. In a combined global
effort, American universities and national laboratories are contributing hardware
and software to both.
In a competitive bidding process, American Overseas Transport Ltd.(AOT), together with
their partner, Clarke Export Packing, were awarded the contract for the transportation
of 18 Cryostat Magnets used in the LHC ring. A major consideration was the experience
and reliability that AOT and Clarke Export Packing had demonstrated in previous project
movements on behalf of Fermilab.
The Cryostat Magnets were either transported in 40FT shipper-owned containers or in
large crates. The containers were outfitted with special frames to stabilize the highly
shock-sensitive magnets.
The first and third legs of the trip, from Batavia, IL to Baltimore, MD and from Antwerp
to CERN, were executed by way of air-ride trucks. The magnets were transported from Baltimore
to Antwerp by ocean vessel. After unloading of magnets at CERN, the containers and frames
were returned to Fermilab where they were re-loaded with the next shipment of magnets.
AOT Group handled a shipment of winches and equipment needed for the construction of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Tacoma, WA. 112 packages of various weights and measurements, totaling approximately 1400 cubic meters, were loaded on the M/V Ocean Coral at Kokura Port in Japan and unloaded at Everett Port in Seattle. Upon arrival at the port, 45 truckloads delivered the shipment to two different locations over the course of three days