February 23 - ALE has completed a complex transportation project to deliver three 135-tonne transformers to the new National Grid substation in Highbury north London.
The transformers, which measured 7.6 m x 4.98 m x 4.55 m each, were shipped into the UK Port of Tilbury on a coaster vessel from the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
On arrival at Tilbury, the transformers were lifted from the vessel using a mobile crane and loaded one-by-one onto ALE's 14-axle girder bridge for individual transport into the city centre.
The three separate transports involved moving the transformers on the M25 motorway at night, before crossing the UK capital by day. Due to the dimensions of the transport combination and the city traffic, a busy road in the London Borough of Islington en route had to be closed.
On arrival at the closed road, each of the transformers were offloaded from the girder bridge and loaded onto eight axle lines of self-propelled trailers for the final transport along Seven Sisters Road to the substation site.
Each of the transformers was unloaded at the site in front of its foundation, ready for installation by ALE using jack and skid systems.
The overland transport operations were performed over a period of four months, which was within the time permitted by the UK authorities. It took two days to deliver each transformer from the Port of Tilbury to the site.
"Right from the start, this transformer move was challenging as we had to find a route that was structurally capable and also a location close enough to the site to tranship the transformers from the girder frame trailer to a smaller trailer for the final delivery and positioning at the site," explained ALE project manager Tom Irvine.
