Faktor 5 – A lightweight in the super-heavyweight class

For the transport professionals of the Allelys Group, Faktor 5 has become an indispensable module within the fleet. For ultra-heavy cargoes, which often have to be transported over challenging routes, the multi-functional high girder bridge, which offers the flexibility to be converted into a vessel bridge as required, is a real all-rounder. Just recently the UK company used their “lightweight” – it weighs only 100 tons – for two impressive operations.

The first job involved transporting a 212-ton transformer in northwest England, from Stafford to Ellesmere Port for shipment across the Irish Sea. For the configuration of the heavy-duty modules, the Allelys team picked a Goldhofer 2x12-axle THP/ST heavy-duty combination with Faktor 5. The girder frame was used in the vessel bridge mode so as to gain the decisive extra centimeters of clearance for passage under bridges of limited height on a route of more than 100 km. Where necessary, the hydraulics on the Faktor 5 permit it to be lowered (or raised) by up to 900 mm as soon as a critical passage is reached. These capabilities proved their usefulness not only on the – trouble-free – road journey but also during the transshipment process at Ellesmere Port.

For the second journey, over a distance of about 60 km from Brunton Shaw to Goole in northeast England, the Goldhofer high girder bridge was loaded with a cable drum weighing 300 tons – no problem for Faktor 5, which is designed for payloads of up to 550 tons. Since this job also included transshipment at the port, Faktor 5 again provided invaluable support for efficient working with its combination of wide-ranging functionality and user-friendliness.

Renato Ramella, Director Sales Europe and North Africa at Goldhofer, was pleased and a little bit proud to see such perfect examples of effective cooperation involving Allelys’ know-how and Goldhofer’s transport solutions: “For years, Allelys has been an extremely important customer in the UK. We are delighted that our Faktor 5 has given them a real competitive advantage in terms of additional flexibility with ultra-heavy cargoes. At the same time, we also benefit from the regular feedback we receive from Allelys. That helps us make continual progress in our commitment to product optimization to meet our partners’ needs.”