Two 500,000 pound drums aboard a football field-size barge floated early Monday into King Harbor in Redondo Beach -- part of a journey on water and surface streets to an El Segundo refinery.
The harbor is the first stop after the empty drums arrived from Spain at the Port of Los Angeles. Once on land, the drums will be transported from King Harbor north on Sepulveda Boulevard to Rosecrans Avenue and the Chevron refinery in El Segundo.
"This is a very important project for the refinery," said Jeff Wilson, of Chevron. "We supply more than 20 percent of the motor vehicle fuels in Southern California and 40 percent of the jet fuel at LAX. This makes it happen."
Each coker drum weighs about 500,000 pounds. They are 100 feet long and 28 feet wide.
The barge transport required about seven hours. Tug boats anchored the drums to two bulldozers.
They will be rolled off the barge for the Endeavour-like overnight move on Wednesday.
"We're going to use two different types of moving equipment," Wilson said. "They will drive onto the barge, lift the drums and roll them off."
The ground transport will move at about 2 mph.
Crews removed four palm trees from the center median on Harbor Drive at Herondo Street. Utilities will be re-routed to clear the way for the steel drums.
Four more drums will arrive this week. Transports are scheduled Feb. 25 and March 4.
