This article originally ran in the August issue of Bulk Transporter magazine.
CRYOPEAK is setting records for liquified natural gas (LNG) delivery with its innovative Super B-Train trailer, which the distributor unveiled earlier this year and recently completed its longest haul so far—a 1,608-mile, 35-hour journey from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, where the trailer was loaded, to Inuvik in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
The LNG shipment went to the local Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) facility, which uses the fuel as the primary power source for the extreme northern community.
“It is an extremely challenging supply chain because in the summer we have to use multiple ferries, which cross swiftly moving rivers, and actually our B-Train’s first delivery was delayed by about a week because the river levels were so high, and there was so much debris flowing through on the rivers, that the ferries were inoperable,” said Aleksandar (Saša) Cook, Cryopeak’s senior vice president for business development.
“And then in the winter these trucks are crossing over ice bridges, across these frozen rivers, so it’s the quintessential Ice Road Truckers (TV show).”
Cryopeak’s ambition and proprietary Super B-Train tanker design, brought to life by Karbonsan Pressure Vessel and Trading in Turkey, made this delivery—as well as previous trips to Coeur’s Silvertip mine near the BC/Yukon border, and Fairbanks, Alaska—possible. Driver Blair Mease made the company’s supply chain dream a reality.
The veteran Canadian driver piloted the Super B-Train to all three locations, helping Cyropeak make history while also meeting customers’ critical energy needs at a lower cost. “It feels great that you can actually help a community out and take more product up to them, so they can cut the cost on the loads,” Mease said.
Superior B-Train
Cryopeak, based in Richmond, BC, Canada, introduced its first Super B-Train in January with the goal of optimizing small-scale LNG transportation in Canada. The 20,700-gallon tank trailer, designed to offer 70% more capacity than standard trailers operating in the country, is interoperable throughout Canada, and is in full compliance with Transport Canada rules and regulations for the transportation of liquefied natural gas.
“Our customers are seeking lower costs associated with the transportation of LNG in Canada and we are pleased to have four new Super B-train trailers (four tridems and one tandem axle) entering service in the Cryopeak fleet at the beginning of 2020,” Calum McClure, CEO of Cryopeak, said earlier this year. “This new transportation solution will improve the competitiveness of LNG, as transportation costs represent often the largest cost of LNG supplied to our customers.”
Cook said the trailer’s design, which, in part, was inspired by the use of B-trains for moving diesel in Canada, is the result of several years of due diligence by Cryopeak, which has a fleet of 16 total tankers. The Super B-Trains are assembled by Karbonsan, a cryogenic tanks manufacturer, in Turkey using a chassis and other components shipped from Canada to meet Transport Canada regulations.
“We transport LNG long distances, so the higher payload we can have, the better the economics,” Cook said. “Petroleum-based products like diesel are hauled around in Northwest Canada in B-trains, so there was really no reason why LNG couldn’t be. And LNG is hauled in B-trains in Australia, so we weren’t creating a precedent globally. We created a precedent in Canada, but Cryopeak has always tried to invest in new assets, and look to optimize the LNG supply chain. So we’re building an LNG production facility in Fort Nelson, BC, to be as close as possible to our northern audience, and this dovetails with that.”
Trail-blazing deliveries
The Super B-Train, which Cyropeak hauls with Volvo tractors, made its first delivery, an 18,000-gallon shipment of LNG, in February to the Silvertip mine, where Coeur exclusively uses LNG for power generation.
“That was huge for us, and also for our parent company, BP Energy Partners in Dallas,” Cook said. “They’re a middle-market private equity firm and they invest exclusively in the natural-gas value chain, with a bias toward last-mile investments—investments in companies that touch the end consumer of natural gas—and so it was huge for them, too.”
Mease, a 55-year-old Whitehorse native, has hauled hopper and B-train trailers in Canada for 30 years. For him, hauling the Super B-train is no different than pulling other types of trailers. Successful deliveries still come down to managing the load, the challenging terrain and conditions—and all the associated anxieties.
“(The first Silvertip trip) went very smoothly, because we just went to the chain-up area for the mine there at the bottom, and we split it there and somebody else took it up,” he said. “Then we picked up an empty later on.”
The next trip, to Fairbanks, Alaska, was more challenging. Gross vehicle weight (GVW) limits are lower on US roads, where the maximum is 80,000 pounds, than on Canadian roads, so the Super B-Train could not proceed as one trailer. Instead, the units were separated and hauled independently to their final destination, where they were offloaded and reunited for the now lighter return trip back across the US-Canada border.
“There’s nothing we can do with the B-train to make it economical to use for distribution in the lower 48 states, but we think it’s viable for Alaska because we’re transporting the LNG such a long distance from Fort Nelson to the Alaskan border,” Cook said. “And if you think about the distance between Fort Nelson and the end-use consumer, about 75%-80% of the distance is in Canada, and only a nominal distance in Alaska.
“So it makes sense to use the B-train even if you have to separate at the border.”
Pushing boundaries
Cook said Cryopeak is “incredibly proud” of its most recent achievement, delivering 18,000 gallons of LNG to the remote town of Inuvik, which is located 124 miles north of the Arctic Circle and approximately 62 miles from the Arctic Ocean.
“They have multiple storage tanks there, where they offload product, and then they vaporize it,” Cook said. “Basically, you bring it to its boiling point, at which point it becomes a vapor again, and you warm it up from there … and then they burn it to create power similar to a natural gas-fired power plant in the United States or Canada.”
The trip to Inuvik was particularly meaningful for Mease. He worked on a similar project, with a previous employer that was trying to develop a B-train capable of reaching Inuvik, for five years without success. Then, because of adverse conditions last winter, he was forced to split Cryopeak’s Super B-Train in Eagle Plains on its first attempt to reach Inuvik, and haul the lead trailer and pup up separately.
“You’ve got to watch it, because it’s so long, and then especially up on the Dempster (Highway),” Mease said. “In some places, the roads aren’t that wide, so they’re pretty narrow, and you just want to try to stay on the road and not slide off. I was pretty lucky this time that there wasn’t too much traffic coming the other way, so you didn’t have to get over that far. But on the Dempster you have to watch out for that because some trucks and trailers slide off. They get to the soft shoulders and they just slide off into the ditch.”
Much of the journey up the Dempster is over gravel and shale, and rain the day of his first successful trek to Inuvik, with the Super B-Train intact, made the roads wet and slimy, Mease said. Still, the ride up went off without a hitch, but on the way down, he had to clear one area where an avalanche took out half the road, and another washed out by water cascading down the mountainside after weeks of heavy rainfall.
Mease also estimates he was hauling an extra 2,200 pounds of mud, or “Gumbo,” clinging to the truck and trailer chassis like concrete at one point. Of course, winter roads present their own challenges, including high winds, low visibility and snow drifts, and when mountain passes are closed, drivers often are left stranded for days.
“You have to have a really good driver in any regard to be driving in Northern Canada,” Cook said. “In the Yukon, in January, it was minus-50 C. Lines get brittle and break, and so it is challenging to operate in those climates, regardless of whether you’re hauling a B-train or just a tandem-axle unit. So these guys are highly trained, sophisticated drivers.”
Moving forward
Cook said Cryopeak will continue growing its fleet of tankers and pushing delivery distances, especially with its new LNG plants coming online. And Mease plans to keep piloting the Super B-Train. He already was preparing for a second run to Inuvik soon after completing his first history-making LNG delivery to the town.
“We’re capturing new clients, so it’s getting power generators who are currently using diesel over to natural gas, it’s getting existing mines or mines that are in development to natural gas via LNG, and continuing to cultivate clientele,” he concluded. “We’re also pushing into Alaska for deliveries. We see a very strong audience up there for natural gas.
“We’ve gotten the kinks out, and gone through a learning curve with the B-train, so when we go to development B-train No 2, there’ll be a few changes. Nothing major, just adaptations here and there we think are better suited to the Canadian market.”
This article first appeared in the August issue of Bulk Transporter magazine.
As the largest propane supplier in the United States, AmeriGas Propane has a big job to do.
The 61-year-old company, which is part of the UGI Corporation, delivers propane for furnaces and cooktops throughout rural America, while also providing propane for the commercial industry, and keeping homeowners supplied with propane grill cylinders for BBQ season.
With an equally large variety of customers and delivery locations, AmeriGas also boasts a massive fleet of vehicles, including Class 8 bulk pressure vessels, curtain-side, flatbed, drop decked and dry-van trailers, along with a sizable fleet of bobtails and crane service trucks. Jay Massey, who has spent the last 13 years as the corporate fleet vehicle manager for AmeriGas, estimates the fleet (which is spread across 1,200 locations nationwide), is in excess of 9,000 vehicles strong—and together amassed more than 126 million miles in 2019.
“Propane is a rural and portable fuel and we go where natural gas lines can’t,” Massey said. “Our No. 1 priority is safety for our employees and our customers. If a truck breaks down, renting is not an option. The majority of our equipment is designed specific to our industries’ productive environment and those types of vehicles simply are not readily available in the rental markets. (So) when we specify our truck, the expectation is they will be in service for long duty cycles before retirement.”
The bobtail fleet is the largest transportation segment for AmeriGas, which offers home deliveries in areas without access to natural gas. But as is the case with every vehicle design it deploys, AmeriGas does not run with only one type of bobtail. Rural deliveries for furnaces and cooktops typically are made with Class 7 bobtails, but the company also runs Class 5 mini bobtails, which are fully self-contained, units mounted on Ford F-550, 4x4 chassis. The “mini-bobs” can reach customers who need AmeriGas home or business delivery service, when that service is not available otherwise, Massey said.
“(Those are) pretty much our mountain goats, or they will go into tight places like Key West alleys or Martha’s Vineyard’s twisting driveways,” Massey maintained. “We also have some of these in Alaska, where other vehicles just aren’t nimble enough to handle that terrain. They’re four-wheel drive and have 1,200-gallon tanks, and they’re very handy, but they are also designed for a very specific vehicle application and, while not your everyday standard bobtail, they perform just like their big brother, but on a smaller scale.”
The AmeriGas bobtail fleet also boasts a tandem-axle version capable of handling loads up to 35,000 pounds GVW (gross vehicle weight) with tanks exceeding 5,000+ w/g. There is a lift-axle version for states like Michigan where frost laws come into play in the early Spring months, requiring an extra axle on the ground for safer, more surface-friendly weight distribution.
The Class 8 curtain-side trailers are used for bulk district deliveries for the company’s cylinder exchange program, called AmeriGas Propane Exchange. Knuckle boom trucks with Kenworth T370s chassis, have 26-foot long bodies capable of carrying two or more 1,000-gallon tanks, with crane booms capable of handling larger tanks.
AmeriGas even has rail-geared bobtail trucks delivering fuel to remote 1,000-gallon tanks positioned at railroad switching stations. The trucks are upfitted to ride the rails and have a customer’s tracking equipment, so the rail company always knows the exact position of the vehicles.
“We have two distinct seasons in our core propane business—the heating season, and the grilling season,” Massey said. “Both are busy, but the grilling season continues to expand and grow year over year.”
Massey says, in total, AmeriGas vehicles come in many different designs, with multiple varieties of every vehicle type. The company is in constant communication with its end users on specs and, most importantly, AmeriGas standardizes as much as possible across all fleet vehicles with similar componentry, safety options and functionality, which makes it easier to migrate the assets into different positions for other business needs, such as disaster recovery or increased business demands.
When an AmeriGas location needs a truck, the company generates a “heat map” to identify which OEM dealers are nearby for parts and service support. It then connects with the location to discuss their specific needs for terrain and climate in that area. “It’s important to us that the local operation, which can run anywhere from three to 60 productive trucks, has a voice in what they get,” Massey said. “Terrain and climate are major factors, along with the vehicle options that factor in influencing how we build that truck.”
PTI fleet
The AmeriGas bulk transportation group operates as Propane Transport International (PTI). The interstate carrier’s fleet includes approximately 700 bulk transport trailers for large-scale deliveries to the AmeriGas retail locations and large commercial customers that require up to 9,000 gallons of product per delivery. AmeriGas trailers feature 10,500- and 10,800-gallon barrels, but also come in smaller and larger sizes. Most are constructed of quenched and tempered (QT) steel from various manufacturers.
PTI is a dedicated group consisting of company drivers and owner-operators pulling bulk tanker trailers with 200-plus company tractors, primarily consisting of Kenworths and Peterbilts specified with Cummins 525-horsepower engines and Eaton 18-speed transmissions. The bulk tankers deliver compressed LP gas, butane and asphalt, which is used to keep AmeriGas trucks busy when the heating season begins to slow.
“Typically, we refurb more than we buy new trailers,” Massey said. “If you take care of good steel, and maintain the trailers, they’re a good long-term investment and will last well beyond 30-plus years.”
Power units
When Massey arrived in 2007, AmeriGas bought only one major brand of large truck. The company quickly changed the mix and has diversified across multiple manufacturers, adding Kenworth, Peterbilt, Freightliner and Hino trucks to its portfolio.
A good portion of the home-delivery fleet features Kenworth T370 and Peterbilt 337 medium-duty chassis, equipped with the Cummins PX-9 engines rated at 350 horsepower with Allison 3000 RDS automatic transmissions. They’re utilized to deliver bulk propane, but also motor fuel cylinders to power forklifts, and propane cylinders, mostly used for home grilling and heating needs.
“For colder climates, we like the Arctic Fox option PACCAR offers. We began specifying this feature many years ago in our colder terrains when we ran up against extreme cold and struggled to keep our trucks warm and productive. This feature addresses virtually all heating needs our trucks run up against in extreme polar conditions,” Massey said. “Up north, we can see temperatures plummet to minus-40 degrees with wind chill. That makes it very challenging for not only our drivers, but for the equipment to function. The Arctic Fox option provides a full range of fuel and fluid heaters that have been a great tool in assisting us to virtually eliminate those problems, and in keeping our trucks actively productive when we need them the most.”
Even more extreme are deliveries in Alaska. AmeriGas operates three Kenworths—two W900s and a new W990 deployed earlier this year—that haul propane to remote locations, utilizing the ice roads. “If you’ve watched the Ice Road Truckers show, you’ll see the predominance of Kenworth W900s running those roads,” Massey said. “Those seem to be the truck of choice in the far north, so our new W990 will fit right in.”
Spec’ing for driver comfort is always top of mind. “Our drivers have a tough job and are out in the elements, so when they’re in the cab we want them comfortable and focused,” Massey said. “We want an economic truck, but we won’t skimp on safety or driver comfort in our specs. For our long-haul trucks, we specify better driver seats and premium mattresses, which makes for a happier and healthier driver. Many of our trucks include inverters, which accommodate the many power draws of CPAP devices and refrigerators, and other convenience devices drivers utilize when on the road.”
Safety first
Because of the products hauled, and difficult-to-reach locations to which AmeriGas delivers, safety always is a priority for its drivers. Tractors and trailers are equipped with air disc brakes (for Class 8 trucks), Bendix Wingman systems that feature collision mitigation and stability control, and multiple tire-pressure control systems, like Hendrickson’s TIREMAAX Pro, Apeira’s Halo Automatic Truck Tire Inflator, and Link Manufacturing’s Cat’s Eye tire pressure monitoring systems.
The company’s safety department makes sure drivers are well-trained on safety procedures, and the unique challenges of delivering propane. “We have a great safety department that works tirelessly on our training programs,” Massey said. We have dedicated training centers across the US specific to our industry.”
One of the most unique precautions used by AmeriGas drivers is a safety lanyard worn by the driver with multiple buttons to control the truck, but also with one button that stops all truck systems.
“We designed that with BASE Engineering years ago,” Massey explained.
Essential services
Much of AmeriGas’ business, including home heating in the winter and grilling in the summer, is seasonal, so some of its drivers are seasonal workers, including farmers who serve as part-time drivers during the cold season. But its fueling services always are essential, so part-timers receive year-round insurance, and AmeriGas trucks have continued to make deliveries during the COVID-19 pandemic, which Massey said began surfacing in the United States at the same time as its regular heating season was ending.
Another service AmeriGas offers is Cynch, which is home delivery for BBQ cylinders. This service is only a few years old, but it has enjoyed an uptick in volume this spring and summer, Massey said. “In the COVID-19 environment, that business demand has skyrocketed,” he said.
New safety accommodations AmeriGas has made to cope with the coronavirus include wearing masks, social distancing and regular cleaning of vehicles. The company also has modified some trucks for training purposes to ensure driver trainers and trainees are able to maintain safe distances while both are seated in the cab.
“This is one thing that we’ve worked on, because we have to train people. It’s a full plexiglass shield anchored on our in-cab file box, to accommodate ride-alongs, for training,” Massey said. “Most drivers are running solo, but we did design … a plexiglass shield, with rubber pipe wrapping on the edges to seal up the headliner, back of the cab and dash connections.”
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Cryopeak setting records for LNG load sizes, delivery distances in Canada, Alaska, with 'Super B-Train' tank trailer - Modern Bulk Transporter
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