Trailor Power Assist (TPA) Debut in Norway with Mammoet

The system is being used to transport 23 running generators and 23 hubs along a critical section of the route to a wind farm site near the northern Norwegian town of Narvik. Mammoet were contracted by Deugro Danmark and Siemens Gamesa to complete the challenging section of the journey that required both powerful equipment and skilled operation to maintain the highest levels of safety.

Anders Bräuner, Sales Manager Mammoet Denmark, explains: “Safety is vital on every project. The four kilometer section of the route to the Narvik site that Mammoet were required to complete involved climbing an 18% gradient and navigating 12 to 14 hairpin bends. With each generator weighing 74 metric tons and each hub weighing 47, we needed to use the TPA system to maintain safety”.

TPA is a powered trailer system designed to improve transport efficiency and significantly lower the carbon footprint of long haul heavy transport projects. An alternative to SPMTs and conventional prime movers, it consists of six axle lines, the middle four of which are driven by a 1,000 horsepower hydraulic Power Pack Unit. This system delivers twice the pulling force of a conventional prime mover and offers significant improvements to the safety and efficiency of projects.

Bräuner continues: “Traditionally, an operation of this magnitude would have involved several vehicles working together. With multiple drivers having to work as one, this would have made negotiating numerous hairpin bends especially difficult and time consuming. Combined with the TPAs’ decreased turning radius and the improvements this gives for navigating tight bends, this solution mitigated the risks involved with multi-truck configurations and improved the safety and speed of each individual journey.”

By reducing the number of vehicles needed to complete the transport, the TPA offers significant sustainability improvements. Reducing the carbon footprint of heavy lifting and transport equipment is becoming increasingly important and smart engineering solutions like the TPA are just one example of the ways in which Mammoet is working towards this project.

Previous TPA news  here

Photographs: Iain Ritchie

Source Mammoet