Back and forth

Lampson Australia was hired to transport a generator nearly 200 kilometres from Australia’s Loy Yang A brown coal-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley to Port Melbourne before shipping it overseas.

The 108 metre combination making its way along the Dandenong highway

Its journey was for client AGL Energy and the 265 tonne unit was being shipped back to manufacturer Siemens in Germany for repairs.

The convoy was 108 metres long, 6.5 m wide and stood 5 m tall. At 650 tonnes the total convoy weight made it one of the largest in Victorian history. The load was carried on a girder set and trailers from Italian manufacturer Cometto. It was the same set of equipment in this configuration used in the 1980s when the generators were first installed at the power station.

Lampson acquired the equipment in the mid-1990s with the purchase of Megalift Pty Ltd, now a Lampson Australia subsidiary. Lampson said it has maintained the equipment in its original condition and used it on many similar projects.

There were five prime movers and another truck behind the generator on the steepest climb. The prime movers were Lampson-owned Mack Titans, each with 600 hp and rated for more than 200 tonnes. A ten tonne counterweight block was mounted on each one.

The convoy travelled at between 15 and 20 kilometres an hour and took three nights to complete its journey, Kate Lampson told /CST. Its sheer size meant that traffic lights and signs had to be removed and steel supports were put in place to protect drains and ensure the trucks did not crush them.

Aerial view showing the Cometto trailers and girder frame

The route was planned to avoid tram lines, roundabouts and as many bridges as possible. An added measure to help ensure the safety of the load was a convoy of up to 20 cars driving alongside it to ensure safe transport.

John Lee, Lampson Australia managing director, commented, “‘You have a lead driver and he talks to all the other operators and advises them of the gear to select and the revs to keep at a certain level. You don’t want one truck not doing its work, or doing too much. It all needs to be synchronised.”

Permits obtained for the transport included electrical power, tram, bridge, telecommunications, cable television, road pavement, and local councils. Among other parties involved on this project, some of the authorities and utilities included, VicRoads, Telstra, Melbourne Trams, and Ausgrid.

Lampson International will perform the reverse move in October 2018 when the generator returns from repairs in Germany. The journey from the Port of Melbourne to the Loy Yang Power Station will again be arranged by Lampson.

A local newspaper reported that on the first day of the transport as many as 1,000 people watched from the side of the highway.