Clearly I'm having a bit of a 'heavy' time on Biglorryblog. This picture shows a set of turbines and generators destined for a major power station in Venezuela being shipped on the back of Scheuerle modular low loaders. And although the photographer cleverly managed to cut the first half of the lead truck in half...! For a pie, what is it and the one behind?.
Meanwhile the two turbines, each weighing 197-tonnes, along with two 240-tonne generators first arrived at the port of Maracaibo before starting off by road to their final destination of the Termozulia II power station, located around 25 clicks away.
The contract for shifting the turbines was awarded to the Venezuelan heavy load specialists "Transportate Faga y Bovinelli C.A.", one of the most efficient special transport companies in the country, which used heavy duty transport vehicles from Scheuerle's 'InterCombi' range. Now click through here for more and a close-up of the trailers...
BLB understands that a total of 15 axle lines were coupled back-to-back to provide the required load-bearing capacity in the trailers. The giant turbines, with an individual weight of 197 tonnes, each measured 10m in length, 5m in width and 4.6m in height high, which resulted in an individual axle load of 18.7-tonnes and a total weight of 303-tonnes.
The generators, meanwhile, weren't much lighter---weighing 240-tonnes, and measuring around 12.5m x 4m wide x 4.5m high so the total combination weighed nearly 370 tonnes, which results in an axle load of 20.6 tons for the heavy load vehicles.
And if you haven't guessed the pie quiz already, I might as well tell you that two Mack DM 800 super trucks were used as push-pull tractors and although the rigs only had to travel 25km many hurdles had to be overcome, with the biggest around 250 overhead cables and high voltage transmission lines along the route which had to be lifted out of the way.
A weak bridge also forced the convoy to make a detour while, as part of the operation, the local motorway was closed to traffic in the early morning hours. To begin with, the convoy had to drive along the opposite direction on the motorway and then cross the central reservation using a specially-constructed ramp. Once on the other side, it left the motorway and continued along its planned route. In the late afternoon, the convoy reached its final destination without any incidents where operations for unloading the generator began immediately. Subsequently, the vehicles returned to the port to collect the second generator.
The transportation job, which was carried out at the beginning of the year in Maracaibo, is first of many that will follow during the next few months until the power station has finally reached its last development stage. It is somewhat remarkable too that the assignment was successfully accomplished using vehicles which have already provided many years of reliable service for Faga y Bovinelli while the heavy load transport units from Scheuerle have already been used in daily operations for the past 28 years. Transportation boss of Transporte Faga y Bovinelli, Erwin Uebel, commented on this fact by saying "Quality does indeed have its price but there really is no substitute for it."
To which BLB replies, Viva Los Heavy Hitters!
Comments (2)
I agree that the lead truck is a Mack DM-800, however, the trail truck is not. Look at the rounded old-style front fender and the narrow, centered cab. If it is a Mack, and I think it is, it is an old one.
Posted by Michael Yamnitz | April 5, 2008 1:05 AM
Posted on April 5, 2008 01:05
The push truck at this combination was a Mack LJ 80 built in 1954.
so it's nearly new just 54 yeas old and still working with loads up to 120 tons as pullin truck.
the DM 800 was recently rebuilt with a brand new cabin and also the complete engine and transmission is upgraded.
the second combination was 15 axles with one DM 800 as pulling truck and a International Paystar 5000 as ;ush truck.
Posted by Erwin | June 3, 2008 4:26 PM
Posted on June 3, 2008 16:26