May 24 - Collett & Sons has transported a 140-tonne deaerator vessel from Kilnhurst to the Port of Immingham, UK for process plant equipment manufacturer Charles Thompson.
Route surveys identified extensive street furniture modifications and removals that would be required to ensure that the 28.3 m x 5.64 m x 5.65 m cargo could navigate the 112 mile (180.2 km) route from the factory in Kilnhurst, to the Port of Immingham. This included the removal of gates, signposts, traffic lights and bollards, the ramping of curbs, the partial surfacing of a roundabout, and tree pruning, says Collett.
In addition to the street furniture and foliage, the 6.7 m loaded height of the vehicle would not be able to pass under cables along the route and as a result several electrical distribution companies agreed to ten separate power outages to allow the consignment to pass.
Collett utilised Charles Thompson's Mega Lift system to load the 140-tonne vessel onto a modular drawbar 16-axle trailer and a four-axle ballast tractor before the Collett team secured the deaerator for onward transportation.
Cable lifting engineers accompanied the load to manually raise cables or obstructing wires, while the hydraulic suspension of the trailer allowed for the lowering of the trailer bed. The hydraulic capability of the trailer was utilised to pass under a 6.5 m bridge by lowering the height of the cargo to 6.4 m.
At the Port of Immingham, Collett utilised the Power Boost Module to manoeuvre the trailer and position the cargo alongside the awaiting heavy lift vessel. The cargo was loaded utilising the ships own cranes.
