168-ton ‘cold box’ moves from Wales to SA

ON ITS way to its final home at Air Products in Newcastle, KwaZulu Natal, is a massive distillation column (“cold box”) – enclosed in a steel case 54.7-metres long, 5.5-m wide and 4.4-m high. Safcor Panalpina was responsible for the project management of this 168-ton piece of equipment – designed to produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon – on its logistics journey from Wales to SA. The shipping leg to Richards Bay was handled by the Ukraine-based, specialist heavy-lift ship, Pantanal. At the end of July, the cold box was loaded onto two ultraheavy duty Nicolas trailers propelled by two 700-hp MAN horses working on a push/pull basis, for its road journey to Newcastle – where it is due to arrive this week. The equipment is part of Air Products’ R280-million expansion plans – designed to meet the future needs of Newcastle steelmaker, ArcelorMittal.