Mumbai-based Agarwal Carriers Corporation of India (ACCI) achieved another major landmark on March 26, 2017 by successfully executing the multimodal transportation of India’s heaviest TG Stator weighing 462 MT for Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Haridwar. The movement was from Kandla Port to NTPC’s 800 MW Gadarwara Project site in MP. The transport was by barge-cum-road covering a total sea and road distance of 2,000 km approx. Use of Girder Bridge of 500T payload with Goldhofer THP/SL 45 hydraulic axles pulled with 4 brand new heavy duty Prime Movers of Volvo and Scania with combined power of 1,960 HP helped to traverse the several mountainous sections and sharp curves en route.
ACCI was awarded the contract by BHEL, Haridwar in June 2016 through competitive bidding process, based on the technically feasible and safe multimodal mode of transportation offered by ACCI.
Movement of a 462 MT TG Stator on Girder Bridge happened for the first time in India, as per a release, and loading of the cargo was allowed by BHEL only after physical load test of Girder Bridge for 500 MT in the presence of its officials and certification by manufacturer as well as VJTI. This multimodal transportation faced many challenges, both in marine and road movement, mainly because of non-availability of RoRo facilities at Kandla Port for barging activity and road movement of the lengthy over 10-m trailer with width of 6.1 m when the TG Stator was put onto Girder Bridge at Kasheli. ACCI created RoRo facility within Kandla Port and safely loaded the package by RoRo method on the company-owned barge Sanskriti on October 1, 2016 and moved the loaded barge to Kasheli Jetty (outside Mumbai).
The entire transportation was broken into five stages—by barge from Kandla Port to Kasheli, by Girder Bridge from Kasheli to Maharashtra Exit Border at Khawasa (after Nagpur) for 951 km, by side-by-side axles (1 + ½) from Khawasa to Narsinghpur (235 km), by Girder Bridge once again from Narsinghpur to Kareli (15 km) and lastly by 1 + ½ side-by-side axles for the last stretch from Kareli to Gadarwara site (40 km).
ACCI designed and built 1,000-m long major bypass with 7.50 m top width for Shakkar River bridge having 9 spans x 30.5 m each located 25 km before the site. The quality of the bypass was so good that it attracted attention of the local authorities who permitted its use for public traffic during the local Mahashivratri festivities when the bridge was closed for traffic and opened only for pedestrians.[/vc_column_text]
