The Port of Eastport was scheduled to handle the import of a shipment of wind turbine blades from Santos, Brazil in late April.
"This all started approximately three years ago," he says. "Talks began with First Wind [a wind energy company based in Newton, Mass.], and then moved to General Electric, and they became our client," Gardner says. "The blades will be shipped from Eastport to projects around the region."
Gardner added that if all goes well with the April shipment, he expects a second shipload in June.
The total of 108 blades, each 125 feet long, are scheduled to arrive aboard the M/V Jade C., according to Tom Critchley, Operations Manager for Federal Marine Terminals, the port's shipping agent.
"We'll be using mobile truck cranes, then our truckers will move the blades on flatbeds from the pier into the yard," Critchley said. "There, 54 trucks contracted by General Electric will transport them, two to a truck, to their destinations."