Collett Carries Out Two-Stage Move for UK Power Plant (video)

UK-based abnormal loads specialist Collett was recently hired by logistics firm Expeditors to handle a pair of 100-tonne turbines in a two-stage move to and from a gas-fired power station in Saltend, East Yorkshire.

In a first stage, Collett delivered a gas turbine rotor from Doncaster Sheffield Airport to the Saltend facility, a 1.2-gigawatt combined-cycle cogeneration plant operated by UK-based Triton Power, a 50:50 joint venture between SSE Thermal and Equinor.

The turbine had arrived at Doncaster on an Antonov AN124 nose-loader, one of the world’s largest cargo aircraft with a gross payload of 120 tonnes.

Collett’s project team deployed a 500-tonne Liebherr LTM 1500-8.1 mobile crane to unload the unit from the AN124’s skid track before transferring it to a waiting 10-axle flat-top trailer for the 75-mile trip to Saltend.

“Having liaised with North Yorkshire and East Riding councils ahead of the project, Collett ensured any route modifications and necessary street furniture removals had been undertaken to allow the 4.5-metre-wide cargo to safely navigate the route from collection in Doncaster to final delivery,” Collett said.

With the new unit in place, Collett was tasked a month later with extracting the original, decommissioned turbine from Saltend’s storage facilities and transporting it some 50 miles to the CLdN terminal at North Killingholme for shipping to Rotterdam.

To carry out the removal, Collett’s transport team positioned a 12-axle drawbar trailer directly under the old turbine before employing the trailer’s hydraulic capabilities to raise the trailer bed, lifting the component free from its support stools.

Following weekend storage at Collett’s Goole heavy-lift depot, the cargo was taken to North Killingholme ready for the short sea crossing to Rotterdam. At Rotterdam, the turbine was rolled off the CLdN vessel and unloaded from the trailer by a 500-tonne mobile crane for final delivery to Antwerp.

“With all transshipment operations complete, our team hopped back on the ferry, returning to Goole and completing stage two of the Saltend Power Station project.”

Collett and Expeditors will be exhibiting at Breakbulk Europe 2023, happening on 6-8 June at the Rotterdam Ahoy Convention Centre. Click here to enquire about booking a stand.

Check out a video of the second stage of the move: