February -9- A vital tunnel boring machine (TBM) and ancillary equipment totalling 6,000 cubic metres has been moved from Germany to Barcelona.
The shipments have been handled by project cargo forwarder Abnormal Load Services (Freight Management Group) for use in the Barcelona's Metro expansion.
The largest item was a screw conveyor measuring 19m and weighing around 84 tonnes while the heaviest was a shield segment weighing above 130 tonnes. The consignment was moved by a combination of road and barge.The equipment was moved from the manufacturer by road to a German river port where it was loaded onto a sea-going barge for movement to Spain. At the port of Barcelona the loads were unloaded by shore-based cranes and loaded onto road vehicles for final transport to the construction site.
ALS is working to gain further TBM movement contracts at present, including movements between Hong Kong and Iran, Italy and Hong Kong, as well as China and Italy.
