ASHTABULA – After weeks of dismantling the giant stacker stacker so that it can barge from the Port of Ashtabula to Mobile, Alabama, the job is almost complete.

The Alabama State Port Authority purchased the Krupp Stacker Reclaimer from Ashtabula Dock Company for its McDuffie coal terminal in Mobile.

Capp Steel in Ashtabula was in charge of preparing the huge machine for shipment.

Capp worked with Broad Street Electrical Contractors of Ashtabula, Richmond Engineering of Pittsburgh and PSC Crane and Rigging of Columbus, to complete the project, said Andy Kaschalk, project manager for Capp Steel.

“All the companies had an equal share and worked together to make it happen,” he said. “Every business knew what they had to do and did it.”

The barge leaves in a few days, he said.

A stacker is a large machine used in handling bulk materials. Its function is to stack loose materials such as limestone, ores and grains on a pile. A collector can be used to recover the material. In Ashtabula, it was used to move coal.

“The McDuffie Coal Terminal is capable of loading and unloading just about any form of transportation,” said Daniel Gill, Superintendent of Dock Maintenance. “It’s a 550-acre terminal with about 16 miles of conveyor belt, two ship loaders, three ship unloaders, two barge unloaders, two double-wing stackers, two railcar dumpers. [one tandem and the other a single car dump], five stacker reclaimers, as well as a wagon loading station.

The Krupp machine was built around 1991-1992, according to the manual. The machine weighs approximately 950 tons and measures from the top of the rail to the top of the machine at 93 feet. If the boom is raised 16 degrees, its height is 99 feet. The total length is 334 feet, according to the manual.

Its operating specification is to recover coal at 5,000 tonnes per hour and stack 3,000 tonnes per hour.

It was originally purchased by the Consolidated Rail Corporation in 1991 or 1992, said Gill.

Ron Capitena, owner of Capp Steel, said he was impressed with the way the four companies worked together on the project.

“It went pretty well,” he said. “I try to use the same people as long as they train. “

Kaschalk said Richmond Engineering did all the engineering work.

“They were the brains behind the work,” he said.

The stacker-reclaimer was disassembled into six large pieces and placed on the barge. On Thursday, another piece had to be lifted onto the barge, Kaschalk said.

The trip from Ashtabula to Mobile will cost $ 8 million and take the stacker-reclaimer on an ocean barge through the St. Lawrence Seaway and then onto 12 road trucks. The smaller parts will travel on seven or eight other highway trucks.

It should take around 30 days for the barge to get to McDuffie and the trucks will start unloading the barge within weeks.

In January, Kaschalk hopes Capp Steel gets the rebuilding work in Alabama.

“Right now our main focus is on the barge,” he said. “Next year, we hope to start working on it at the port.