For the construction of a wind farm in eastern Thailand - which reportedly has the highest turbine towers in Southeast Asia - the British heavy-haulage company ALE Heavylift has been awarded a contract by Sattahip Port to transport 13 turbine sets to their destination at Rom Klao, located in the province of Mukdahan. These turbine sets feature a diameter of up to 5.4 m and a weight of up to 100 t.
To meet the tight three-month schedule, ALE collaborated closely with Goldhofer. The 860-1,000 km long route was deemed challenging, especially for some of the cargoes. The journey also required extensive planning: overhead power lines had to be lifted, roads had to be cleared of various obstacles, and additional parking spaces had to be created for convoys with three trailers.
The 143 components from which the wind turbines were to be assembled were placed on a wide variety of Goldhofer vehicles. Six extendible semi-trailers of the SPZ-P series were deployed to carry the rotor blades. With the help of coupled THP/SL heavy-duty modules, the nacelles and upper tower sections for the turbines were transported quickly and safely to their destinations. For the rotor hubs, eight-axle semi-trailers were used.
The tower segments, with a diameter of 5.4 m, were loaded onto THP/SL heavy-duty modules fitted with Goldhofer RA 4 and RA 2 tower adapters. The RA 4 tower adapters were specially modified to meet ALE’s requirements, i.e. compliance with local weight and height restrictions plus efficient transportation of the extremely heavy and large components.
Thanks to the free turning feature and the general flexibility of the system, ALE was able to complete the journey with its off-road sections and tight bends and obstacles without any problems. Some of the vehicles were shipped to Thailand by airfreight, said Goldhofer, so that the operation could begin on time despite the short lead time.
All in all, more than 200 Goldhofer vehicle axles were involved in ensuring reliable delivery of all the equipment to the construction site. ALE was awarded another contract in the middle of 2019 to transport five more wind turbines, which were even larger and heavier.
