Moving an entire airport terminal building is quite an impressive feat of engineering. This is just what Van Seumeren did in Copenhagen, Denmark last month (see News). But this is just one of several recent special transportation projects that the Dutch contractor has carried out in recent months. For example, on 13 September it shifted a 1,300t harbour crane in France and in the summer it carried several loads weighing up to 175t across 32km of Germany.
The 67.5m-high harbour crane had been built at the yard of Port Autonome de Nantes Saint Nazaire and had to be moved 400m to its final location. Van Seumeren used 64 axle lines of Kamag self-propelled modular trailers (SPMTs). The Kamags were divided into three groups; one side with 2×18 axle lines and the other with 28 axle lines to give equal axle line load. When the SPMTs were connected, supports and distribution mats were placed on top. Four support beams, 12m long and designed in-house, were connected to 2x24m beams under the harbour crane to lift the harbour crane with the Kamags’ own hydraulic system. After about two hours, the crane reached its destination and was jacked down onto the rails in two stages.
The German project, witnessed by thousands of locals who came out to watch along the route (20,000, Van Seumeren estimates), was conducted during the night of Saturday 17/Sunday 18 July.
Van Seumeren’s task, contracted by Geldhof NV, was to move the four vessel parts to the DSM polyolefine factory in Scholven. The vessel parts had a maximum height of 7.24m, a maximum width of 8.3m and the lengths varied from 16m to 41m. One purge pin weighed 65t, another was 95t, the reactor head was 42t, while the reactor itself weighed in at 175t.
The direct route by road was 7km, but as the four vessel parts were too high for bridges and flyovers, a circuitous 32km route had to be taken, through several small villages where spectators lined the streets.
Transport Service GmbH was responsible for support and co-ordinating with the local authorities. Liaison was important because various alterations had to be made along the route. In the villages of Herten and Mahl, for example, eight streetlights, 20 traffic lights and seven road signs had to be temporarily removed. In some places, local power had to be switched off and cables had to be moved. Prior to the final transport, the vessel-parts were transported by barge from the production factory of G&G Willenbroek, Holland to the quay. Two Mannesmann Dematic AC 650 cranes lifted the vessel parts ashore.
Because of the journey length, conventional trailers were used instead of SPMTs. Being 3m wider, conventional trailers offered greater stability.
The transport was executed with the following combinations: For the longer journeys, a MAN 41.502 prime mover with a four axle line Scheuerle trailer and a six axle line Goldhofer were used to move the 65t purge pin. The same prime mover was used for the 95t purge pin but with a 15 axle line Goldhofer. The 42t reactor head was moved with an MB Actros 3353 prime mover and an eight axle line Scheuerle. For the 175t reactor, an MB 4044 prime mover and 2×9 Goldhofer axle lines plus turntables were used.
Among the challenges along the route to test the drivers were a 90O curve and a stretch in Kelsekirchen with just 500mm clearance. The vessel parts reached their destination at 6am, 30 minutes ahead of schedule.
Two smaller vessel parts, weighing 44t and 31t, had already been transported on the Friday. Though wide, they were not so high and so could take the more direct route. For these, an MB 3353 prime mover and a five-axle line Nooteboom trailer were used.
