Port of Vancouver, WA, USA

Milestones Building & Design

Provides Additional Storage Capacity

at Port of Vancouver, WA, USA

The Port of Vancouver USA, a multi-purpose port authority located in Vancouver, WA required a 72,000 ft2 storage facility to be used at their bulk terminal facility. A 160' wide by 450' long fabric covered, steel truss building was installed to provide storage for 30,000 metric tones of copper concentrate.

Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals has 157 operating terminals including the Port of Vancouver's bulk terminal facility. In the new fabric covered, steel truss building, the bulk material is delivered through a conveyor system and high piled in the building until it is loaded back into the conveyor system for export. The fabric building was designed to incorporate both of the existing conveyor systems, as well as a new system that runs through the building.

“We were very pleased with how well the building went together," said Todd Krout, Facilities Superintendant, Port of Vancouver USA. "The design was very complete and overall it was easy to assemble. The project was completed quickly which allowed us to meet our tenant's tight construction deadline. It has been a great experience and we have really enjoyed working with the local fabric building dealer, Milestones Building  Design” said Krout. Fabric covered buildings provide clear-span space without worry of running into poles or other obstructions. Since copper concentrate tends to be corrosive in nature towards metal and steel products, a stem wall foundation was used to avoid direct contact with the copper concentrate material. “The way this building is manufactured, we should easily be able to keep the copper off of the metal,” said Krout. “We look forward to this advantage from the fabric covered building.”

The need for the expansion of the Port of Vancouver bulk terminal facility responded to a 92% increase in dry bulk exports through the port in 2005. “The building has provided us the opportunity to expand our business,” says Chris Alexander, Terminal Manager, Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals. “Copper concentrate is required to be in under cover storage to prevent water contamination. This building has provided additional capacity and has increased our business by 100%.”

Along with the projected continuing demand from Asian markets, the Port of Vancouver is now in a position to capitalize on the exploding copper concentrate export market. “The fabric covered, steel truss building has been a great addition to the Port of Vancouver and to Kinder Morgan's opportunities to export,” said Alexander. “We look forward to utilizing additional fabric buildings in the future, not only at this facility but at our other facilities. The cost, the efficiency, its ability to withstand the weather conditions and provide a safe, dry, lighted work environment is a great advantage to our type of operation.”

“This building has provided additional capacity

and has increased our business by 100%.”

- Chris Alexander, Terminal Manager,

Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals

The 72,000 ft2 storage facility
was installed in six weeks.

“The ability to allow light into the facility has
minimized the need to turn on the lights during
the day which has been a nice change from an energy savings perspective,” says Krout.
 

Eight 4' by 4' mesh vents were installed in the

end walls to provide the required air circulation.

Three 18' wide by 20' high overhead doors

were installed in the fabric covered,

steel truss building.
 

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The Colver Power Project

Fuel Quality Improves with

Fabric Covered,  Steel Truss Building

Located 100 miles east of Pittsburgh, PA, the Colver Power Project is the largest independent power producer in Pennsylvania. The 102-megawatt project has been supplying electricity to the Pennsylvania Electric Company since 1995.

In 2006, a 160' wide by 260' long fabric covered, steel truss building was installed at the Colver Power Plant for the storage and drying of coal. "The building has worked as expected and has improved fuel quality," says Jeffry Zick, Deputy General Manager, Inter-Power/AhlCon Partners. "The fuel is dryer and it burns more efficiently."

A front end loader is used to turn the coal, a process that used to take up to three days to have the coal dry enough to burn. "We chose a fabric covered building because we liked the technology," says Zick. Available in widths from 18' to 160' to any length, fabric covered buildings provide clear-span space and are pre-engineered to meet structural requirements. "This building is a benefit to our business as there is less downtime to improve fuel quality."

A conveyor system located at the end of the building transports the coal out of the building. Before the fabric covered building was used to dry the fuel, $8-$10 million was spent per year on propane to get the coal to burn as it was quite wet. "The fabric covered building has drastically improved fuel quality and the building has paid for itself in six months," says Zick. With an availability greater than 98 percent, the Colver Power Plant is one of the most reliable producing generating plants of its type anywhere in the world.

The interior building span and clearances in the fabric covered building are superior to a conventional building. "The building is well-lit even on cloudy and rainy days," says Zick. "Once the foundation was complete, construction moved very quickly. We were very pleased with the foundation and erection teams." Engineered for temporary or permanent use, fabric covered buildings can be expanded or relocated with relative ease and provide maximum free floor space for equipment and operations.

"The fabric covered building has drastically improved fuel quality and the building has paid for itself in six months!"
- Jeffry Zick, Deputy General Manager,

Inter-Power/AhlCon Partners

The 160' wide by 260' long Cover-All Titan

 building is used for the storage and drying of coal.

"We chose a fabric covered building because we
liked the technology," says Zick.

"This building is a benefit to our business

as there is less downtime to fuel quality."
 

Once the foundation was complete,

construction moved very quickly.

The fabric covered building includes mesh PVC
ends providing excellent ventilation and
air circulation.
 

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Lambs Seneca Terminal Shipyard

Fabric Covered, Steel Truss Building

Exceeds Expectations for Storage Solution

Lambs Seneca Terminal (LST) is located in the town of Seneca, IL in the Shipyard Industrial Park. The industrial park is 270 acres in size with 12 different companies that handle and package a variety of goods for Wal-Mart, The Home Depot, and numerous small retail stores. LST loads and unloads more than 150 river barges a year containing a variety of commodities such as fertilizer, lumber, salt, bark, carbon products, steel and most recently waste bakery goods.

“We receive about 20 semi loads of waste bakery goods a day which we warehouse and load onto barges and rail cars and ship south for livestock feed for the poultry and hog industry,” says George Lambs, Owner, Shipyard Industrial Park. “The waste bakery goods are things that are outdated or maybe just packaged wrong. Rather than going to the landfills, it is used as protein food for the poultry and hog industries. Because it is a consumable by-product we needed to house the product out of the weather,” says Lambs. “The building we needed had to be large enough for trucks and a front-end loader to operate. I looked at a fabric covered building that had been built in the area and thought it would fit our needs. We gathered some information and worked with a fabric covered salesperson on the design details and placed the order for a 150’ wide x 115’ long fabric building.”

“The sixty foot height and clear span area

of the building is ideal for operating machinery.”
- George Lambs, Owner, Shipyard Industrial Park

“We were fortunate that the building arrived before the bad weather hit. Once the fabric covered installation crew arrived, the building was constructed in just seven days,” says Lambs. “The sixty foot height and clear span area of the building is ideal for operating machinery. We use the backhoe to stack the material really high so if we want to store some other commodity in here we can do that. The building has numerous entrance ways and loading docks to load and unload pallets from trucks as well as material into rail cars. We have a barge loading conveyor on the back side of the building that can load at 1,000 ton per hour when coming from rail cars and free flowing material. We can handle pretty well anything in here.”

“I would love to cover the area with more warehouses for handling barges; that’s my main objective, to get more customers that we can do barge business for. This is the first fabric covered building I’ve purchased, but depending on my needs, I don’t think it will be the last; the building has really worked well,” says Lambs.