A steel colossus starts its travels
250 tonnes – that is roughly the weight of 50 elephants.
That's how much the component of a steel press weights which in
recent days, with spectacular effort, was sent on its journey from
North Hesse to Siberia.
In Russia the steel monster will in future be used to produce
huge pipes for natural gas pipelines. Yet Siberia is a long way
away – especially for a transport of this size. The press was made
by the steel fabricator Richter in Hessisch Lichtenau, from where
the component started its journey.
The destination on the first stage, which was completed in the
night from Wednesday to Thursday, was Gimte, a district on the
River Weser in Lower Saxony's Hann. Münden. On Saturday night the
steel monster was transferred from land in Gimte onto a special
pontoon raft with which it is to be shipped to Rotterdam port in
the coming days. From there it will continue by sea to Saint
Petersburg and finally to its destination, Nizhegorododsky in
Siberia.
A journey of several thousand kilometres, yet the most difficult
part was probably the first 43 kilometres from Hessisch Lichtenau
to Gimte. The Hessian State Roads and Transportation Agency
required months of planning to work out the journey. Late on
Wednesday evening the time had finally arrived. But 250 tonnes have
to be set in motion first. A single tractor unit was not enough in
this case – a second one had to push the heavyweight from behind.
Later a third articulated vehicle was also involved in pulling it
from the front.
5 hours for 43 kilometres
Over a length of 50 metres, spread over 24 axles each with 4
wheels, the heavy transport was towed from Hessisch Lichtenau along
federal trunk roads and motorways. Around five hours was needed to
transport it along the 43 kilometre route. All kinds of different
obstructions had to be cleared out of the way along the route: On
the B7 trunk road several sets of traffic lights were in the way
and had to be turned to the side. The relatively narrow entrances
and exits to the A7 motorway were particularly critical. There were
no major incidents: A jammed brake briefly caused excitement.
After three days of waiting – the special raft did not arrive on
time – on Saturday the journey from Gimte finally started. What was
really unusual about this: Cargo shipping traffic has not been
allowed on this part of the River Weser for many years, excursion
boats usually cruise along it. So an exception had to be made for
the steel press and a jetty was even erected on a disused
Bundeswehr site.
With meticulous precision, the 250 tonne colossus was slowly rolled
onto the around 70 metre long pontoon raft. Driven by two push
boats – one at the front and one at the rear – the boat formation
set off on the next stage. But even that will take time – after all
the maximum speed is a full 12 kilometres per hour.
Source: www.hr-online.de (kahu /
makn)
