December 19 - Netherlands headquartered Mammoet recently executed a specialised project transport in the USA, delivering a 3,500-tonne dragline across 35.4 km (22 miles) of New Mexican desert to the El Segundo mine, on behalf of Peabody Energy.
The huge dragline - which is designed to 'walk' using shoes that lift and advance the machine at one-tenth of a mile-per-hour - could not access the project site under its own power without requiring generators, road and power line construction and 24-hour support for at least a month, says Mammoet.
Instead, Mammoet reduced the project time more than by two-thirds by using 150 axle lines of self-propelled modular transporters (SPMT), configured five trains wide by thirty axles long, to haul the super-heavy machine. By this method, Mammoet was able to negotiate steep inclines, heavy rainfall and width restrictions due to an archaeological site along the route.
"Transporting a machine of this size required precision and planning", said Brad Brown, Peabody Energy senior vice president of Southwest operations.
