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.”
