Mammoet has transported more than 480 items to the construction site of a chemical facility owned by fertilizer manufacturer Grupa Azoty. The components are meant for the propane dehydrogenation and polypropylene (PDH/PP) blocks of the plant.

The project took place in the town of Police in the northwest of Poland and involved the lifting and transport of more than 480 items from a small port to the construction site six kilometers away.

“We are happy to announce the completion of the first stage of our collaboration with Grupa Azoty Polyolefins,” says Jakub Walasek, branch manager for Mammoet Poland. “This is one of the biggest projects in Poland in recent years and we were entrusted to deliver some of the largest items ever moved on Polish roads.”

Among the items transported by Mammoet were five extremely large units with weights between 600 and 900 tonnes. The size of many of those items required Mammoet to look for efficient and sometimes creative ways to get them from the port to their final location.

Preparation

While six kilometers might not sound like a long distance, when it comes to transporting oversized and heavy items, it can feel like quite the journey. From the very beginning, the transport supervisors executing the transport were involved in the project. They performed surveys and together with engineering drafted the plans on how the items were to be delivered to site.

As a big part of the trip took place on public roads. It was crucial to make sure that all the permits were in place and the route was ready to take the large weight of the transport. In quite a few areas, it was necessary to make modifications. A ro/ro ramp was built, bypasses were created, roads were widened, electrical wires were taken down and placed underground, and lamp posts were removed and later replaced with newer ones, “which was eventually a nice improvement for the local infrastructure”, Jakub says.

But the biggest achievement was to build a bridge that could hold 650 tonnes of weight. “As part of the route, we had to cross a 20-meter-wide channel and for that, we needed to build a bridge. Seeing that bridge complete was one of the highlights for me”, Jakub says. “There is a lot of preparation and precision that goes into a project like this and building a bridge is no small task.”

Once the route was ready, the items could be transported as safely and efficiently as possible. The first transport took place in January 2021.