Journey to the Black Sea for RTL

Project logistics provider RTL, based in Russia, helped deliver 15 units of equipment to oil and gas company Tatneft at the construction facility in Nizhnekamsk, Russia.

The units, including a hydrotreating reactor measuring 34 x 3.5 x 4.2 metres and weighing more than 206 tonnes, were transported for Italian manufacturer Walter Tosto.

The equipment was transported from the Walter Tosto facility in Bucharest, Romania, to the port of Constanta by road. The reactor was loaded onto a 14 axle trailer with a carrying capacity of 250 tonnes, and accompanied by police escorts 280 km to the Black Sea port by road, a spokesperson said.

On arrival at the Romanian port, two 500 tonne capacity cranes were used to load the reactor and other equipment onboard a vessel. The equipment was then shipped across the Black Sea to the Russian port of Novorossiysk.

On arrival at Novorossiysk, the equipment was unloaded from the vessel and loaded onto railcars. The 206 tonne reactor was lifted onto a 16-axle railcar using two Liebherr mobile harbour cranes.

The cargo was then moved by rail in co-operation with Russian Railways (RZD), from Novorossiysk to a railway station near Tatneft’s site in Nizhnekamsk. On arrival at the station, the cargo was unloaded and transported by road to its final destination. The heavy reactor was lifted off the rail car and onto a 12-axle self propelled modular transporter (SPMT) using a 400 tonne capacity Liebherr crane, before being transported to the plant.