Why modularization is winning—if you engineer it early
If you’ve ever tried to “build the house, then ship it halfway around the world,” you know why modularization keeps gaining ground. In the latest TWD Summer Academy webinar, lead business developer Stan Krijnen and technical lead George Tzanidakis walked through how early, disciplined method engineering trims risk, steel tonnage, and schedule drag.
They kept the scope tight: transport engineering only. Yet the message landed for EPCs, carriers, and heavy-haul specialists alike—transport choices ripple across yard layout, module design, nearshore constraints, and cost.
Market momentum—and the practical catch
Modularization’s business case is straightforward: move fabrication to where weather is predictable and labor is available; run yards like factories; and build in parallel while civil works proceed. Forecasts cited during the session point to a double-digit growth trajectory for the modular market. The catch? Complexity. Moving 300-ton-plus modules by sea adds interdependencies that punish late decisions.
Method engineering, defined and sequenced
“Formulate a method that describes which assets you will use, in which sequence, to minimize risk and cost.” That’s how the speakers framed method engineering. Start as early as possible, because influence falls and change costs rise over time.
Their working sequence mirrored the transport system itself: yard location → land transport corridor → module size → vessel charter → nearshore transit → material offloading facility → delivery time and design weather. Each decision narrows the next: a mountain pass or low-capacity road can dictate SPMTs versus trailers—and therefore module footprint—before anyone opens a 3D model.
Vessel width, draft—and the fight for deck real estate
Width screens half the heavy-transport fleet when modules push past 40–45 meters. Draft can be the real choke point, especially in Australia or U.S. river systems, where shallow approaches force low-draft solutions and creative offloading. One example showed a 10.5-meter quay elevation and only 4.5 meters of water depth at low tide—demanding a broad, low-profile carrier to keep approach angles within SPMT stroke limits.
Competition from offshore wind further tightens supply: optimal heavy-transport vessels often need booking about two years ahead, the presenters noted.
Nearshore routing and offloading options
Dredge to the quay, transship to river barges, or “piggyback” a barge atop the oceangoing vessel from the yard—each option exists, but not every carrier offers all three. Offloading structures matter too. Solid fills deliver higher bearing capacity; pile-supported quays may force a lift-over, adding crane spreads, load cases, and steel.
Design weather by workability, not folklore
Do you really design for “unrestricted” seas when the master will wait out 7-meter waves anyway? The team advocated a workability-based approach: choose a significant wave height (HS) that yields acceptable sailing percentages for the route and season. Targeting summer windows on a Thailand-to-Canada run, for instance, could make an HS≈5 case viable—cutting accelerations and reinforcement steel. As one operations note put it, “matching heights are practically not realistic,” and go/no-go calls typically embed conservative buffers.
Detail engineering: where the steel disappears
Seven load-case families must be verified across sea, land, yard build-up, weighing, and transient states. Two quick wins: explicitly modeling fabrication tolerances for buckling (rather than blanket code conservatism) and calculating welds instead of defaulting to heavy standard details. On acceleration selection, the team warned against over-compressing cases; merging forward-speed and zero-speed envelopes typically adds ~5% conservatism—small but not free. For stiffer assets like jackets, second-by-second load evaluation (validated with class) has already delivered ~25% load reductions; modules are trickier, but the method is maturing.
Q&A notes from the sharp end
- Roll-on loadouts accept limited inclinations; vessel ballasting and tides are planned in, and ramps are either standard contractor assets or custom-designed.
- Cantilevered overhangs are possible but bounded by side-shell loads and waterway clearances.
- Early acceleration estimates using reference vessels proved “close enough” to final selections years later, enabling timely structural design.
- Decommissioning transports often become more conservative due to unknown corrosion losses—safety risk is unchanged even if the structure is headed for scrap.
The entire webinar can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck_9chDlrgg
