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INTERNATIONAL AND SPECIALIZED TRANSPORT
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AUGUST 20
13
Trees and lamp posts were
just some of the challenges
facing Mammoet when it
transported a 450 tonne
load along UK roads.
DAVID WESTON reports
SITE REPORT
E
arly in 2013 Essar Energy’s Stanlow
oil refinery took delivery of a
450 tonne catalytic cracker unit. It
was one of the largest loads to have been
moved along UK roads for many years.
The 18 metre tall, 450 tonne load was
transported from Ellesmere Port docks
on the north west coast of England to
the refinery using self propelled modular
transporter (SPMT). The SPMT was
made up of 30 axles lines, four files wide.
Combined with the cargo, the gross weight
of the transport was 700 tonnes.
For part of the journey the cargo
was moved along the M53, an 18.9 mile
motorway on the Wirral Peninsula. Along
that road 16 motorway lights had to
have their lamps removed as they where
preventing forward progress of the load.
Once off the motorway steady progress
was made as preparations, including tree
pruning, had been previously carried
out. It took six hours for the transport
to cover the four mile (6.5 km) journey
The 450 tonne load
travels along the M53
motorway in the UK
Cat cracker coming down the slip road
Clearing the barriers on the roundabout
Stanlow cat cracker
on UK motorway
Bollards and other street furniture
removed from a traffic island
Police escorts follow the 18 m high
load as it is moved down a road lined
with trees to the refinery
to the refinery.
The unit is part of a five year project to
exchange the head unit of the residue cat
cracker. It is the largest in Europe and will
enable the refinery to process the poorest
parts of crude oil into diesel.
Stanlow oil refinery covers 1,900 acres
and is situated on the southern bank of the
Manchester Ship Canal. It is the second
largest refinery in the UK and has a
refining capability of 12 million tonnes
a year and is capable of producing
296,000 barrels a day. Fawley refinery is
the largest in the UK and has the capability
of producing 330,000 barrels a day.
Up until 2011, Stanlow refinery was
owned by Shell. The company sold the
refinery to Essar for an estimated
GB£ 814 million (US$ 1 billion). Essar
has a £250 million ($360 million)
expansion plan, which includes site
expansion and an output increase by 25%,
with the production of diesel and aviation
fuel to be increased.
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The self propelled modular transporter turning at the entrance to the Stanlow refinery
