An array of SPMTs provided by Italian company Cometto has successfully loaded an 18,000-tonne floating dock onto a barge ship.
Destined for Egypt to work for the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), the dock is 62 metres wide, 22 metres tall, 260 metres long, and can lift up to 35,000 tonnes.
The SCA contracted South Korean company SangSangIn Ship Machinery back in November 2021 to construct the behemoth floating dock in a deal worth over $100 million AUD.
To help the shifting of the dock, three South Korean heavy-lift specialist companies – Anjeon, DaeMyung, and Global – aligned their fleets of Cometto’s SPMTs to shift the construction and move it 300 metres out of its installation location and onto the barge ship.
“The three companies have sent their SPMT fleets to the site to master the challenge,” said Alberto Di Stefano, Sales Manager at Cometto. “A total of 380 modular axle lines of Cometto MSPE has been assembled, composed by sixty-two 6-axle units two 4-axle units.”
Driven by 12 PPUs with 335 kW per unit, each of the 380 SPMT axle lines were disposed in twelve convoys supporting all four corners of the floating dock. The process commenced as soon as engineers from Cometto arrived to ensure that everything was set up effectively.
“The high payload capacity and the reliable handling of the Cometto modules are decisive advantages for this outstanding job”, Di Stefano said. “Such projects are realisable thanks to the payload capacity of the Cometto SPMT which reaches a value of up to 70 tons per axle line.”
“Additionally, the patented Cometto Dual-Link suspension offers an optimized force repartition in the suspension structure,” he continued. “The axle geometry gives the highest possible precision during the load positioning.”
Established in 1954, Italian company Cometto have forged a reputation for aiding heavy-lift processes, both on and off road, and are now part of the Faymonville Group.