Heavy metal from Russia
21 / 04 / 2013
FORTY-SIX tonnes? . . that’s easy, comrade. Russian project logistics company JSC Transafe Logistics set up a record by moving this massive single piece of equipment from Russia to Korea and back in cooperation with IL-76 freighter operator Aviacon.
Experts reckon it is the heaviest single unit ever uplifted by the flexible, cargo-hungry IL-76TD.
The shipment consisted of a rotor for a gas turbine generator.
Weighing 46 tonnes, including its transportation cradle, it needed to be shipped to Korea and then returned to Nizhnevartovsk.
Timely delivery was critical.The project was a successful collaboration of the shipper, subcontractors, the Korean manufacturer, airline loadmasters, and Transafe staff and management, insists Denis Veraksich of Transafe.
He adds that the most challenging part of the job was making sure the gross weight of the rotor, including the transportation rack, did not exceed 46 tonnes.
It had been designed and manufactured to meet maximum weight restrictions whilst maintaining the integrity of the fragile piece itself.
