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Chevron Moving Several 250-Ton Drums From Redondo Beach To El Segundo

REDONDO BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Chevron plan to move six drums, each measured at 100 feet long, from Redondo Beach to its oil refinery in El Segundo.

The 500,000-pound coker drums will be cautiously transported on city streets in the dark of night in the same method used to move the shuttle Endeavour and the LACMA rock.

"Probably the hardest thing planning is just to be patient, being deliberate, being cautious and being safe," Chevron's Jeff Wilson said.

The drums will replace ones that have been in place at Chevron's El Segundo refinery since 1968. The company uses the drums to process materials when producing fuel.

Using lessons learned from the transport of the space shuttle Endeavour in October and a 340-ton boulder to Los Angeles County Museum of Art in March, crews have a detailed plan for the 4.5-mile route.

"Two of the coke drums are on what are called SPMTs — Self Propelled Modular Transporters — which are the exact piece of equipment that moved the space shuttle," Wilson said. "They are very important to us."

The drums will be moved along Sepulveda Blvd. and the Pacific Coast Highway using a 128-wheeled trainer.

The city will move street lights, raise power lines and trim trees to make way for them.

The drums will be moved two at a time over the next three weeks. The first pair will be moved Monday night into Thursday morning.

Once the drums arrive at the refinery, one of the world's largest cranes will be used to switch out the old drums with the new shipment.

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Space Shuttle Endeavour Completes Historic Mission To California Science Center

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