A Walvis Bay trucking
company has helped
Namibian logistics company
Manica meet the challenge
of moving a heat exchanger
that is 26 metres long, 4.5
metres wide and weighs
115 000 kg 580 kilometres
from the port of Walvis
Bay to a new acid plant in
Tsumeb.
Dundee Precious Metals
is building a new copper
treatment works in Tsumeb
as the first phase of a
R2.4-billion project.
The acid plant will produce
between 270 000 and
340 000 tons of sulphuric acid
a year, according to Concor
Engineering, which has been
appointed to undertake the
structural engineering and
civil work on the plant.
“The challenges in
transporting the cargo are
huge. No company had
trucks strong enough that
could transport this load,”
says Holger Kleyenstüber of
Manica Logistics.
Walvis Bay Plant and Tool
Hire, decided to purchase
a Kesselbruecke trailer,
“which easily solved all our
headaches”.
The Kesselbruecke is
described as a high weightcapacity,
expandable, public
road rig.
“We also had to do a
complete road route survey.
Unfortunately, most of
Namibia’s power lines are lowhanging,
thus each line had to
be lifted,” he says.
The biggest challenge for
the transport of the heat
exchanger during January
2014 will be manoeuvring the
giant load through towns such
as Omaruru and Otjiwarongo.
“Road signs will need to
be taken down and trees cut
to make space for this load.
Another challenge is the road
at the mine itself. This road
was not designed to carry such
heavy loads, and work is being
carried out to stabilise the
road,” he says.
Manica has projectmanaged
the offloading of
630 000kg of parts and
material to date for the project.
“Cargo is arriving from
all over the world. The plant
is scheduled to be up and
running towards the end of
2014,” adds Kleyenstüber.
CAPTION
Manoeuvring giant components through the streets for a new sulphuric acid plant in Tsumeb,
Namibia.
