News & Press Releases

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPORTATION - August 20, 2001

Wilmington - Gateway for wind Energy

The Port of Wilmington, DE successfully met a new cargo challenge - the receipt and handling of giant wind turbine blades. In recent years wind turbines have become more and more popular as an alternative source of energy. Being a commercially viable non-polluting source of electricity, whose source of energy, the wind, is free and abundant. Wind turbines are plentiful in California, Texas and the Western states, and have recently begun to spread to the East Coast, including Pennsylvania and New York. Because of its strategic location at the heart of the East Coast, Wilmington was chosen as the port of entry and the distribution center for the giant turbine blades, which are shipped from Brazil.

The wind turbine blades shipped through the Port are the GE TZI.5 MGW (MW), and have a total production capacity of 1.5 MW per hour. A steady wind speed of as little as nine miles per hour is enough to achieve this level of energy production, which is sufficient to supply energy to 22.000 homes, and can sup port the electricity needs of medium size towns.

The wind turbine blades are manufactured in Brazil by GE Wind, and are shipped to Wilmington for distribution in the Eastern US. From Wilmington the wind turbines will be distributed to four locations: Mill Run, PA, Somerset, PA, Fenner, NY, and the Sweetwater, Texas area.

This year the port will handle 40 sets of wind turbines each consisting of three blades. The blades are nearly 122.5 ft. long, and weigh 20,000 lbs. each. When the wind turbine blades arrive at the Port they are unloaded and placed in a secured storage site at the terminal, then go through a final quality inspection by GE's engineering team from Brazil. The wind blades are very large and fragile, and must be loaded with special equipment onto specialized long trucks, which were obtainded for this project by AMERICAN TRANSPORT SYSTEMS of Vineland, New Jersey. When the cargo leaves the port in addition to two escort vehicles, each truck is escorted by the Delaware State Police to the Maryland border.

"We decided to use Wilmington Delaware because of three advantages: the port's great location for distribution, the State at Delaware's welcoming, efficient and easy service in providing transportation permits for distribution routes, and the personal service we knew we would receive at the Port." describes Stephen W. Donchez, President at AMERICAN TRANSPORT SYSTEMS. Donchez explained how the turbine blades are very complex to maneuver, and flexibility in handling was an important factor in choosing Wilmington as port of entry. He describes how location was an important factor, because the wind turbine blades cannot be transferred through sharp curves, tunnels or small bridges, which made Wilmington a perfect choice as a port for this special project cargo.