November 16 - Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) Australia has transported one of the world's largest capacity tower cranes, the Marr M2480D, from Perth to Melbourne for the Chevron-operated Gorgon project on Barrow Island.
According to WWL, the tower crane was part of a fleet of cranes specifically designed by Marr Contracting to meet the challenges of the Gorgon project.
WWL transported the dismantled tower crane from the Port of Fremantle to the Port of Melbourne onboard its ro-ro vessel Aniara.
"Typically, such cargo is transported by road or rail. But the costs of such transport are high in a country as vast as Australia. Perth to Melbourne is almost 3,500 km (2,175 miles) by road, resulting in exceptionally high monetary and environmental costs. Ro-ro provided the ideal solution for moving the crane around in a timely manner to meet the project schedule," says WWL.
In cooperation with the NorSea Group in Australia, WWL loaded the dismantled tower crane onto 25 roll trailers for the transport to the point of loading at Fremantle.
According to WWL, the roll trailers were developed for all kinds of breakbulk weighing up to 140 tonnes and measuring 28 m in length.
The cargoes, which ranged in weight from 4.4 tonnes to 21 tonnes, remained on the roll trailers for the entire journey.
