ALE transport transformer to Power Station using the River Trent waterway

ALE has moved an electricity transformer from Hull to the Staythorpe Power Station, UK, using the River Trent waterway.

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ALE received the transformer, weighing 270t –   the same as 18 double decker buses –  from a heavy lift vessel at Alexandra Dock in Hull.

ALE loaded the transformer onto the Inland Navigator, a river barge specially converted to carry abnormal loads. Here, Robert Wynn & Sons were subcontracted to provide the river transport along the River Trent to Staythorpe Power Station.

Tommy Quik, ALE’s Project Manager who co-ordinated the transformer move, said: “We normally transport this type of cargo using the public roads, but we actually prefer using waterways because it is an efficient means of transport which poses little disruption to traffic and residents. We were pleased to be working with Robert Wynn & Sons and the Canal & River Trust on this move as they could provide the excellent services that made this possible.”

Stuart Mills, a director at the Canal & River Trust said; “The River Trent has a long history of freight movements and it’s wonderful to see it being used in this way once more. We believe that the river still offers great potential for transporting freight, and although this is just one movement, it’s a great example of what the Trent has to offer. We very much hope that others will recognise the potential benefits that waterborne freight movements such as this can bring.”

Andy Manners, General Manager of Robert Wynn & Sons commented; “It’s great to see the River Trent being used to deliver large abnormal loads. These loads have been to delivered to Staythorpe without impact on the traveling public and again demonstrates the real benefit of using the inland waterways for the carriage of the largest and heaviest abnormal indivisible loads.”

Upon arrival at the power station, ALE’s AK-912 1,200t crane was used to tranship the transformer onto 14 axle lines of conventional trailers and driven to the nearby plinth, where the transformer was stooled off. It was lowered onto skidding equipment and subsequently skidded into final position.