Continental, Atlas partner for 42

FAIRLAWN, Ohio—There are a number of firsts with the extensive new conveyance contract between Continental A.G. and Atlas Energy Solutions, known as the "Dune Express."

The project is one of the largest in the history of Continental Conveyance Solutions, and it features a world-record for a single conveyor belt flight length of 16.4 miles without a mid-booster drive, Conti said.

The entirety of the conveyor system—which will stretch 42 miles from the Atlas Energy Solutions sand mine in Kermit, Texas, to the northern Delaware Basin in New Mexico—is expected to be operational by the end of 2024.

"We're very grateful to our partners at Atlas Energy Solutions for their trust in our expertise and for the great collaboration on this challenging project. We're confident this conveyor belt approach will make an incredible impact on other customers and will support us in our strategy to further develop our industry business," said Andreas Gerstenberger, CEO of ContiTech USA. "We're incredibly proud of every department at Continental that had a hand in this milestone achievement.

"From our sales team to our engineers, and everyone in between, the teamwork and collaboration that got us to this point proved we understand the needs of our customers."

The project was five years in planning, during which Atlas and Conti worked closely together to overcome technical challenges to make the delivery of proppant as efficient as possible.

The Dune Express is expected to reduce Atlas' fuel emissions since no transport trucks will be necessary between the two points of the Dune Express. And safety should improve on the public roads along the same 42-mile stretch with no frac sand delivery trucks traveling back and forth.

Predictive monitors and sensors will be placed throughout the conveyor system to detect rips, tears, cord damage and splice degradation, helping Atlas to avoid downtime, according to Conti.

"This is a remarkable achievement by Continental's research and development team for developing a compound to enable Continental to pursue future overland projects similar to the Atlas Energy project," Conti stated.

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