deugro moves 263,300 FRT for Uruguay Pulp Project

deugro has successfully delivered 263,300 freight tonnes for a greenfield eucalyptus pulp mill in Central Uruguay, a move that smashed records for the highest, widest and heaviest cargo ever transported on Uruguayan roads.

The “mega-project” Taurus carried out for client UPM included the shipment of 8,000 containers and 174 oversized heavy-lift, or OSHL, components, and involved one of the most complex overland transportation concepts ever planned by deugro group.

The heaviest piece transported to the Paso de los Toros mill – which was brought online in April – was a steam drum weighing 279 tonnes.

The overall project including planning and execution took three-and-a-half years, and was handled by deugro China, Finland, Germany and Uruguay with support from sister company, dteq Transport Engineering Solutions.

“The combination of deugro Finland’s industry knowledge, the local experience of deugro in South America and the technical excellence from dteq led to the successful project execution,” said Mark Hollenstein, president of deugro South and Central America. “The involvement from deugro offices in China and Germany, which locally coordinated the cargo shipped via Hamburg and various Chinese ports, ensured smooth execution.”

The pulp mill’s equipment was shipped from various global locations to capital city Montevideo, while the OSHL units was unloaded at Fray Bentos, the site of UPM’s existing pulp mill.

The oversized cargo was transported 230 kilometres by road to the Paso de los Toros site. This section of the move called for the construction of 28 bypasses and new high-tension cable line masts, the removal or adjustment of 1,106 traffic signs and poles and 59 overhead obstacles, and the strengthening of 23 culverts.

The main challenge, deugro said, was bypassing a dam, which was done by developing a customized heavy-lift ferry concept with a modular barge. The barge was deployed some 700 times to ship all the project cargo from one side of the dam to the other.

“Our tailor-made barge design was the solution that finally led to obtaining the go-ahead for the whole project, as the dam at Baygorria built the critical link of the entire transportation,” said Franklin Alvarez, regional director transport engineering Americas at dteq. “We designed a modular self-propelled barge fitting the specific needs of the project. It is capable of performing roll-on and roll-off operations and is constructed of interlocking pontoons.

Check out deugro’s video of the move: