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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Travco Housing: Home away from home Need a modular structure for the city, country or wilderness? Travco will manufacture to suit your needs Susan Braund Petroleum Directory Contributing Writer
Rolling Stones musicians Mick Jagger and Keith Richards may not have had remote bush sites in mind when they penned the tune Two Thousand Light Years from Home, but to the crews who toil in these locations, it may strike a resonant chord.
Comfortable shelter, warm food, hot water and a comfortable bed are no doubt top priorities to these hard-working folks and Travco Industrial Housing stands ready to meet some of these basic needs. Travco is a subsidiary of PTI Group Inc., which is owned by Oil States International of Houston, Texas.
Travco custom manufactures industrial and commercial modular structures used worldwide as temporary or permanent work camps, laboratories, offices, well sites, resorts, hotels and motels, schools, gyms and camp support systems (sewage and water treatment plants and power generation). The custom units are built for relocation on site by truck, train, ship, aircraft, or helicopter.
According to company promotional materials, “Travco specializes in custom-designed and built structures, meeting building standards and specific construction techniques for areas as diverse as the far North, the oceans of the Middle East and the deserts of Chile. The company is the preferred supplier for GE Capital Modular space office trailers for Western Canada. GE has over 80,000 modular offices around the world. Since 1979, industry has looked to Travco for innovation and quality in all types of industrial modular shelter applications.”
Warm, self-contained camps The company, located in Nisku, Alberta, Canada, has extensive experience in remote locations and harsh environments. “We know how to build a cold weather structure and comply to the new Alaska IBC 2000 building code,” says company President Jim Cebuliak. “Generally, the structures are fabricated of wood frames and steel exteriors, but if more strength and outside heat resistance are needed we can build for it — we design for the on- or offshore oil patch, mining and logging in remote areas where rugged and warm self-contained camps are required.”
Cebuliak has 40 years business experience in resource-related industries, 29 years in the industrial housing industry and founded Territorial Trailer Industries, a manufacturer of large construction camps.
General Manager Robert Stocki, P.E., brings more than 15 years experience in design construction management of civil works and industrial facilities to the Travco team. He has logged seven years working on Travco domestic and international resource projects.
Travco’s ability to customize is evident in the 85-person seismic sleigh camp fabricated for PGS Onshore Inc. The mobile camp of six five-unit strings of trailers on sleighs snake their way across the tundra on Alaska’s North Slope. “The trains travel seven to 10 miles a day. They are very, very mobile,” says Larry Watt, Alaska area manager for the geophysical contractor. “They have to be specially built to hold up, especially the subframe, to take the strain encountered pulling them through the foothills. We’re very satisfied with the camps. Travco is always willing to use our input and suggestions for upgrades and modifications.”
Self-sufficient train strings The train strings are completely self sufficient and mobile, with kitchen, diner, two wash cars, offices, mechanic shops, a recreation hall and six-man sleepers. Travco also supplied generator modules, incinerators and snow melters for the trains.
“Where we go is not easy — otherwise our clients would be housing workers in nearby villages or hotels, and wouldn’t need camps. We like to build 12 foot by 60 foot units, but they may be nine foot by 30 foot or knocked down into panels, depending on shipping, site access, local work force level of experience and equipment available at the remote site,” says Cebuliak. “For the 1,000-person Kumtor Mining camp in Kyrgyzstan Russia at a 12,500 foot elevation, it was simply more practical to ship knock-down panels.”
“We’ve also just completed a large, 400-person construction camp and 250-person permanent camp for a Northwest Territories diamond mine 200 miles north of Yellowknife, which entailed transporting the modules 100 miles on an ice road.”
Other recent design, manufacturing, shipment and installation projects include:
•Two-story housing and office facility with support modules installed on the Anadarko platform at the Hot Ice project;
• Two-story barge camp for Crowley Marine;
• 40-person Hercules transportable camp for Catco;
• Three-story emergency response center for Phillips Alaska with Nanuq Inc.;
• Drill rig camp mounted on low bed for Nordic Calista;
• 120-room modular hotel in Nizhnevartovski, Siberia, and a 60-room modular hotel in Vladivostok, Russia.
The research difference Ninety percent of Travco’s projects have distinct challenges, so pre-bid research becomes an integral part of the design process. “Our company has flexibility enough to do the research, design and manufacturing for different applications throughout the world; we are not a cookie cutter operation, not an assembly line product,” says Cebuliak. “We make sure we have the right modular design for final use at site, and that may change based on how many times they want to move it, insulation factors, where it’s going, how it will be used and means of transportation available to final site.”Design and manufacturing facilities Once the research is compiled — to ensure clients get cost effective products that meet their requirements — all major projects are designed by a team of professional consultants familiar with modular relocatable structures.
Travco’s main manufacturing plant, located on nine acres of land in Nisku, consists of 40,000 square feet of plant and office area. The fenced and paved outside space is utilized for storage of lease fleet, packaging and final check out of all units. For large projects a second plant, located nearby, provides an additional 45,000 square feet of manufacturing space. The two plants employ 500 skilled union workers on two shifts.
Camp installations and support For installations, the company sends in supervisory personnel and hires local work force and equipment where available. Complete crews and installation equipment are available for remote areas.
Under the PTI umbrella, Travco has access to PTI fleet rental, food services and camp management for the resource industry. Full capability one-contract turnkey services can be arranged.
Travco Industrial Housing Ltd.
1507 8th St., Nisku, Alberta, Canada T9E 7S7
Toll free 1 888 387 2826
(780) 955-7366 • Fax: (780) 955-8938
website: www.travco.ca
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