December 12 - The transportation and export of a refinery substation built at AV Dawson's North Sea Supply Base in Middlesbrough, UK, marks the site's biggest lift of the year.
The 287-tonne module, which measures 37 m in length, nine metres wide and six metres in height, was constructed by Mech-tool Engineering at AV Dawson's freight handling facility.
The unit was transported as one piece from AV Dawson's specialist fabrication halls and onto its quay on the River Tees before being loaded into a ship destined for Central Asia.
The innovative transportation and shipping operation was managed by freight forwarder F.H. Bertling, which is also a tenant on AV Dawson's site.
The project required 60 axles of self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs) to manoeuvre the unit to the quay. Specialist lifting gear, designed and procured by F.H. Bertling, loaded the cargo via a single crane into the vessel for onward shipment via the Russian inland waterway system to the Caspian Sea.
AV Dawson provided port services; including rigging and stevedoring support and its in-house onsite ships agency Cockfield Knight provided support service for getting the ship in and out of the port.
The cargo marks the first of a series of major new contracts secured by Mech-tool. Steve Oliver, business development director for Mech-tool's modular division said: "Business is looking strong for the future - we have a programme of planned construction projects up to at least 2020 which will all be completed at AV Dawson's fabrication halls. From a tonnage perspective, they'll be getting bigger too."
 - BEST PIC.jpg)
