Precision work on the jetty in front of Grohnde atomic power station: A 240 tonne machine part is heaved on board an inland waterway vessel.
Spectacular loading action on the jetty in front of
Grohnde atomic power station / the destination is
Siberia
Hameln/Grohnde (ni.) 240 tonnes are hanging
from the arm-thick steel cables of the heavy-duty crane. The blue
packaged colossus is hoisted with extreme precision to a position
exactly above the loading hatch of the "Theresia" and lowered
millimetre by millimetre into the belly of the ship. Two hours was
needed for the spectacular action on the jetty in front of Grohnder
atomic power station, which yesterday became the scene of an
extraordinary transport undertaking: loading the component of a
steel press from a pontoon raft onto an inland waterway
vessel.
The monster travelled from Richter Maschinenfabrik in
Hessisch Lichtenau on its several thousand
kilometre long journey to Siberia where,
with the help of the steel press delivered in several individual
parts, pipes for natural gas pipelines are to be produced in the
future. The colossus travelled the first stage to
Hannoversch-Münden on a heavy goods truck with 24 axles. Then it
was loaded onto a pontoon boat and transported by two push boats,
down the River Weser to Grohnde. There the Theresia with owner Hans
Piotrowski and its crew are already waiting on board to take
delivery of the heavy cargo.
The shipping agency responsible for the transport, Dako
Worldwide Transport GmbH, had identified the jetty in front of the
nuclear power station as a suitable location for the loading
action, because here – a relict from the time when the power
station was built – the concrete foundations needed as a solid base
for a heavy duty crane were still available. "We were able to use
this equipment to set up our crane", says Erich Bollerbeck. As an
employee of Felbermayr, which has specialised in the assembly of
heavy machines, Bollerbeck not only directed the work to erect the
"muscleman" and its deployment yesterday morning, but later will
also be travelling after the freighted machine parts to Siberia, to
assemble the parts that arrive there at the end of their long
journey into a functioning steel press.
Before the Theresia cast off in Grohnde with its enormously
heavy load, Reiner Kleine will go aboard the cargo ship as pilot.
The bargeman with decades of Weser experience will take command of
the rudder until the ship reaches Minden. Captain Hans Piotrowski,
whose home port is in Düsseldorf-Ruhrort, must fall into line and
follow Kleine's instructions because he himself does not have a
"master's certificate for the Upper Weser". From Minden and until
the destination port Rotterdam, Piotrowski will then be the boss on
his own tub.
Yesterday afternoon the Theresia passed through the Hamelner lock
and then moored at the quay wall. "We won't make it to Minden by
the time it's dark", said Kleine to explain the extended break. The
journey will not continue with course for Rotterdam until this
morning, after the morning fog has cleared.
Source: Report dated 09.10.2007 from the
Deister- und Weserzeitung Hameln
Photos: Dana
