Making an entrance at Iron Bridge

Overcoming logistical challenges is an art that our team at Iron Bridge have mastered, so when they recently had to begin transporting modules on a trailer that is 48 metres long, reverse it out of a laydown area and turn around again, a detailed solution was pulled together.

This move was like no other due to the trailer length and the overall combination length of just under 75 metres. The Heavy Lift Engineering team prepared for the move by calculating weight distribution, stability and longitudinal operational angles. We caught up with Heavy Lift Transport Superintendent Lindsay Marley to learn more about the complexity of the move and how the team handled the challenge.

“The team did an excellent job safely navigating the different challenges we had, whether it was the weight distribution on the trailer or the overall length of the trailer,” said Lindsay.

“The trailer had to be pieced together and we expected that to take two days. However, the team pulled it off in one day and started loading, ensuring the beams and stools were precisely placed to manage the load.

“We completed a detailed route survey and found that there were areas along the road that the trailer may bottom out on, so manual height adjustments of the trailer were made when we reached those locations and mitigated the risk,” said Lindsay.

“Toward the end of the day we had to implement traffic management, with Dr Andrew Forrest AO, Executive Chairman of Fortescue, seated in one of the light vehicles waiting to get through.

“He jumped on the radio and talked to the team about what we were doing and showed a genuine interest which the team really appreciated and were happy to answer his questions,” said Lindsay.

“The team have worked well on site so far and have been recognised in Tinny Time and also True Blue which is an initiative by our customer to recognise people for their work,” said Lindsay.

We look forward to hearing more about the project, well done on a great job so far team!