Following the success of the irst four Tractomas units, when
Page 42
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
the time came to buy extra equipment in early 2010, the company went straight to Nicholas. The order was for 18 tractors, all with Caterpillar C27 Ascert 27-litre V12 intercooler engines, in an 8x8 coniguration. A number of girder trailers joined the leet as well, taking the total in the leet from three to eight. The last girder to join the leet was by far the largest in the world – 118m in length and designed to carry 467 tonnes. Fuel consumption varies from 10 litres per km for the old Paciic 6x4 to between 4.5 and 6 litres per km for the Tractomas units.
With the new leet’s utilisation at a high in 2011, it broke the 1,000-tonne gross combination record not once but 13 times. The largest load was a 368-tonne transformer, which tipped the combination scale at 1,200 tonnes.
The six-tractor (one pushing) combination was 160m long, and had a combined power rating just short of 6,000hp. For this combination to drive from our depot in Cleveland to Richards Bay (1,200km away), it would use 125,000 litres of diesel. Turnaround time of a combination on this route is a minimum of 60 days. The combination would travel from 1,860m above sea level to sea level, return to the same altitude, then drop back to 900m above sea level at its destination.
Some of the climbs up the escarpment exceeded 16% over 5km, which really tested the tractors. On top of this they had to cope with the high ambient temperatures – topping 45°C in places.
This particular combination was ilmed for the Discovery Channel’s X Machines, which was aired in the UK on 7 February.
The leet currently moves around 90 loads a year, with a total weight of 15,150 tonnes. ■ ● Dennis Child is the general manager of operations at Rotran, based in Cleveland, near Johannesburg, the transport arm of the African State Energy Company, Eskom.