Jumbo-SAL-Alliance recently deployed one of its more experienced heavy lift vessels, the Fairlane, to move project cargo for the ITER project in southern France. 

HLV Fairlane was loaded in Port Marghera, Italy, for the client Daher that was hired in 2012 to provide global transport, logistic and insurance services for the transport of components from supplier factories to the ITER site. ITER is an ambitious energy project, with 35 nations collaborating to build the world’s largest tokamak, a magnetic fusion device designed to replicate the fusion processes of the Sun and create energy on Earth.

The tokamak is an experimental machine designed to harness the energy of fusion. Inside a tokamak, the energy produced through the fusion of atoms is absorbed as heat in the walls of the vessel. Just like a conventional power plant, a fusion power plant will use this heat to produce steam and then electricity by way of turbines and generators.

The heart of a tokamak is its doughnut-shaped vacuum chamber. Inside, under the influence of extreme heat and pressure, gaseous hydrogen fuel becomes a plasma—the very environment in which hydrogen atoms can be brought to fuse and yield energy.

Each piece loaded onboard has been tailor-made for this experimental project and HLV Fairlane’s crew were on hand to handle the cargo with the utmost care and attention. Jumbo-SAL-Alliance partnered with Fusion for Energy and Simic, the manufacturer, for the job.