PT LV Logistics has set a new domestic record for the Indonesian heavy haulage industry with the delivery of RFCC plant components to the Balikpapan refinery in East Kalimantan. The three units weighed above 1000 tons. The equipment used to offload the units and haul them to the site were three Goldhoffer PST?SL self-propelled transporter combinations. 

The Balikpapan Refinery in East Kalimantan on Borneo is part of Indonesian government’s $17 billion oil refineries modernisation plan. A main item in the refinery upgrade there involved the supply of plant components and equipment for residual fluid catalytic crackers (RFCC), which employ catalytic cracking to process crude oil to the highest environmental standards into high-quality oil for the production of gasoline and diesel fuels.

So as to be able to handle these processes at the refinery in Balikpapan, the state-owned Indonesian oil company PT Pertamina ordered the necessary components for the plant from the Korean company Hyundai Heavy Industries. They were loaded onto the Korean Hanjin Leader heavy lift vessel and shipped to the port of Balikpapan. From there, they were taken over by PT LV Logistics of Indonesia and transported overland to the refinery over a distance of three kilometres.

Heavy haulage for the record books

The demands that the project made of the Indonesian freight forwarder were considerable. The contract comprised plant components with a total volume in excess of 24,500 cubic metres. They included a disengager/stripper weighing 1,031 tons and measuring 37.8 x 12.3 x 13.8 metres, and two regenerators weighing 1,357 tons and 1,003 tons, and measuring 28.9 x 17 x 16.1 metres and 33.6 x 14.1 x 15.2 metres respectively.

Transportation of the first regenerator alone set a new record as the heaviest and most voluminous load transported in Indonesia to date. On top of that, the gigantic transport – with a total weight of 1,597 tons, an overall length of 34 metres and a width of over 11 metres – had to be coaxed around several 90-degree bends within the refinery.

Goldhoffer solution enabling the transport

Confronted with loads of such a size and weight, PT LV Logistics of Indonesia turned to transportation solutions provided by Goldhofer. To handle such extreme loads, the decision was taken to use three Goldhofer PST/SL self-propelled modules combined with THP/SL modules with 20 axle lines each.

The mechanically steered PST/SL self-propelled transporters are designed specially for such heavy-duty work, with axle loads of up to 45 tons and a tractive driving force of up to 160 kN per axle line. With a suspension stroke of 600 mm, the heavy-duty combination can be driven completely under the load and pick it up hydraulically. That is a major saving in terms of time and money, for one thing because the loads can be picked up without the use of a crane.

The entire project, including transportation of the regenerators weighing up to 1,357 tons each, was completed within just five days.