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A unique project for the transportation autoclave from Belgian Antwerp to Russia has been successfully completed

October 23
Company news

A unique project for the transportation of the largest in the world gold mining industry autoclave from Belgian Antwerp to Russia has been successfully completed.

The equipment is intended for the second autoclave line of the Amursk Hydrometallurgical Plant (Amursk city) by JSC Polymetal. The general contractor of the transportation process was Key Point Logistics, which appointed Barrus Projects to carry out the contract work.

Characteristics of the main OOG (Autoclave):
The length is 50 meters, the inner diameter is approximately 6 m, the weight is around 1100 tons.

Taking into account the specifics of this project and a huge number of compelling tasks solved by our project teams, we will publish more extensive news on each stage of this exciting project.

The first stage of transportation was the delivery of the unique equipment from the territory of the COEK Engineering manufacturing plant in Geel, Belgium to the port of Antwerp. These works were part of the Shipper's area of responsibility, however, the Key Point Logistics team (Barrus Projects acted as a contractor) has been actively working with the autoclave manufacturer for two years to prepare the cargo following the technical requirements for the subsequent stages of transportation and installation of the autoclave:

- Design and location of transport saddles, taking into account the requirements of transportation in the Russian Federation and the conditions for the autoclave installation at the construction site
- Design and placement of pressure sensors taking into account technical constraints
- Design and places of additional bands installation to avoid damage to the paint
- Replacement of mating flanges on the agitator pipes with transport plugs

All these technical solutions were approved and implemented by the autoclave manufacturer before shipment.

The autoclave was dispatched from COEK Engineering's premises in Geel, Belgium in mid-May 2020 according to the project schedule and further delivered on a hold barge to the port of Antwerp, Belgium, where a special vessel m / v Svenja (SAL Heavy Lift) with ship cranes with a lifting capacity of 1000 tons each (total lifting capacity of 2000 tons) was already waiting. The Key Point Logistics area of responsibility included the organization of loading of the autoclave and components onboard the crane vessel in the port of Antwerp from the hold barge, placing and securing the autoclave and components for the sea passage in full accordance with the developed project for cargo transshipment, placement and fastening.

This work was carried out under the conditions of restrictions associated with COVID-19, but thanks to well-coordinated work with our European partners (AML NV) at the Katoen Natie terminal and a previously approved scheme for transshipment and placement of the autoclave between all participants of this stage of transportation, the transshipment took place as planned and without delays.

Further, the sea transportation of the autoclave was carried out from the port of Antwerp through the Suez Canal to the seaport of De-Kastri, Russia. It is worth noting that the transportation was carried out in the shortest time possible (30 days), taking into account the fact that we organized additional British paramilitary security, which was onboard the vessel (in the port of Djibouti) in order to pass the dangerous areas after the Suez Canal and until the Indian ocean (at the port of Colombo).

Key Point Logistics is grateful to our partners in this project for their prompt work and timely delivery of cargo to the water area of the port of De-Kastri. In the following news articles, we will tell you how the subsequent stages of this exceptional project went.