A customer of Royal SMIT Transformers is currently extending its power grid in the Breukelen-Kortrijk area, situated between Amsterdam and Utrecht, for which it is constructing a new high-voltage substation. Royal SMIT Transformers in Nijmegen succeeded in obtaining the contract for a transformer which will convert the voltage of the national grid down to that of the regional grid. With its impressing dimensions (weight: 325 tons; length: 12.5 m; width: 3.5 m; height: 6 m), this transformer raises an important question: How does such a transformer get from the production site to the customer?
The answer required more than a year of preparation during which the transformer’s journey was elaborated thoroughly. Transport was performed by Mammoet, a company specialized in lifting and transporting heavy loads. On the weekend of September 24, 2016, the transformer was finally shipped from Nijmegen. The transformer was lifted by means of two floating cranes, each 56 meters high, from the river barge and, using a crawler crane, loaded onto a so-called self-propelled modular transporter with a total of 56 axle lines and 224 wheels. This vehicle transported the transformer via a specially constructed road to the closed highway, where it was temporarily parked in a lay-by.
After this break in the journey, transport was resumed on October 8, 2016 via the highway A2, which the transformer left on Sunday morning near the location of “its” substation on a specially constructed 125-meter-long steel ramp.
A transport requiring two weekends, lifting numerous overhead signs, building roads and ramps specially to this end, the deployment of special vehicles and heavy-duty cranes: numerous people were involved in this perfect interplay, ensuring smooth transport of the new transformer from Royal SMIT.
