Giant Vesta V44 wind turbines to Chile
Challenge
Transportation of 3 Giant 60m high Vesta V44 wind turbines
Journey
Aalborg, Norway to the Cerra Bayo mine, Chile
Key facts
- 3 x Giant Vesta V44 wind turbine shipment
- Shipping from Aalborg, Norway to Cerra Bayo mine complex, Chile
- Shipping from Antwerp
- Full coastal vessel charter
- 2400km inland journey
- 6 x 40’ Flat Racks
Challenge
After a tough bidding process, Allseas won the contact to arrange movement of 3 Vestas V44 wind turbines from Aalborg, Norway to the Cerra Bayo mine complex in Chile Chico, Chile.
These turbines will be used as part of a innovative and environmentally sound initiative in which wind turbines will replace diesel generators to provide a renewable power source for underground mining operations. This was a particularly challenging project as several different transport disciplines would need to be utilised and with timing a significant factor, however, a challenge and prospect to be gladly taken on board.
Process
Firstly, a full coastal vessel charter was fixed in order to transport the main sections, including large towers and blade units from their origin point in Aalborg, to Antwerp quay, in order to meet the main ocean going vessel which we had already been acquired on part charter basis to carry out the main transport from Antwerp to Valparaiso.
There was also a matter of arranging transport of the turbines power conversion nacelles, which had been purchased in Spain by the shipper, so a solution was found to ship these units on 6 x 40 flat rack containers from Barcelona to Valparaiso on board a cellular vessel, the delivery of these units had to coincide with the arrival of the main structures shipped via break bulk vessel to ensure customs procedures in Chile could be completed correctly.
Outcome
The most challenging segment of this project lay in the co-ordination of transport from Valparaiso to the Cerra Bayo mine end location. The mine itself is located in a remote region 2400km south of Valparaiso know is Chile Chico, this presents many difficult transport challenges to circumvent. When taking into account project cargo such as this, the journey takes on average of 7-8 days, with many roads that amount to little more than dirt tracks to traverse and with 2 barge crossings in between, meticulous planning was needed at every stage, plus full route survey was undertaken prior to delivery.
