Transport awards for excellence

Mammoet's Cambridge office was contracted in 2003 to transport a large arch bridge, weighing 2,500 tonnes, from a fabrication yard in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, in the US, to its final location, 30 km away in downtown Providence.

First the com pan y had to overcome a considerable height difference, since the bridge was fabricated approximately 10 m lower than its resting height.

It was decided to hoist the bridge to its final height using a six-tower lift system as the bridge comprised three independent arches and had six bearing points.

The towers for the two outer arches were desi g ned usin g equipment from the Titan system. For the heavier centre arch, MSG towers were used ” in total, ei ght 900 tonne strand jacks were used to lift the bridge.

To transport the bridge, a team from and Schiedam offices devised a system of 131 Scheuerle and Goldhofer axle lines.

Some 300 tonne strand jacks were also used to firmly secure the barges together. Being self-propelled conventional trailers, the propulsion and steering systems required 12 operators.

The third challenge was to find an economical solution for cribbing between the bridge and trailers. The bridge had a considerable footprint, measuring 125 m long by 50 m wide, and had tobeelevated9 m above the trailers.

The last major challenge was to tow the barge to its destination and set it on its six foundations, a ccom p lished with the help of a dredging crew, four tugboats and winches.

In Origny Sainte Benoite in France required TLW LeClerc to create accessover a river andcanal The French company found redundant bridge in Vadencourt but was unable to transport it whole through the small towns on the way to the crossing point The final solution was to cut the bridge into two sections: one being32 ml ong b y 6.3 m w id weighing105 tonnes; the other measuring 35 m long by 6.30 m wide and weighing 15 tonnes Two sets of 13 axle line Nicolas and Goldhofer modular trailers were used along the well-prepared route which included the temporary removal of street furnitureand wires Netherlands transported a C3 splitter column from Flechum, Germany, to the PCK Refinery in Schwedt, on the German-Polish border.

The largest weighed 251 tonnes, was 52 m long and 6 m diameter. The second was 31.4 m long, 6 m in diameter and weighed 125 tonnes It was impossible to use the regular 15 km route to the inland port of Sedelsberg. Wagenborg engineers found an alternative route to Meppen, 50 km away. Preparation included the removal of street furniture The company used a 15 and 16 axle line modular trailer for the 251 tonne section and a 20 line trailer for thesecondone To transfer the load to canal b oats, a ddi t i ona l p ili ng was needed to support the 500 and 650 tonne capacity telescopic cranes. At the Port of Schwedt an 800 tonne capacity telescopic crane discharged the loads on to a set of Scheuerle modular trailers consisting of two by eight and two by nine axle lines for the 251 tonne section, and a 19 axle line trailer for the 125 tonne section Both sections were offloaded using a 720 tonne hydraulic gantry.