Mammoet completes Russian refinery delivery

Heavy lift and transportation specialist Mammoet has successfully completed the safe delivery of two heavy and oversized columns to the Gazprom Neft Moscow Refinery, Moscow, Russia, for the construction of a new refining unit.

The two columns were fabricated in different parts of Russia. Each column was more than 50 metres long and weighed up to 700 tonnes. In order to facilitate transportation the columns were delivered in several sections.

The first column, a vacuum column, was 12 metres in diameter and was transported in seven sections of seven metres, which required road closures and transportation at night. The second column, an atmospheric distillation column, was transported in three sections, the maximum being over 30 metres long.

The journey included road and water transport. Along all land routes Mammoet turned off, elevated, and dismantled power lines and lighting systems to provide safe passage.

Once the columns arrived at jetties in Petrozavodsk and Volgodonsk they were loaded onto a barge and delivered by river to the berth in Besedi, 17 kilometres from their final destination. They were unloaded by RoRo method – a ballasted roll-on, roll-off operation performed without cranes. From there they were transported to site by modular trailers.