UK-based Robert Wynn & Sons has supported the replacement of a rotor at the Paluel nuclear power station, transporting a rotor, and its replacement, between France and the Netherlands.
Robert Wynn deployed its heavy lift ro-ro barge Terra Marique to load the existing 236-tonne rotor – carried on a 72-tonne trailer – at Fécamp for onward transport to Rotterdam.
Once in Rotterdam, the rotor was lifted off using a shoreside crane and transferred direct to river barge Meander for onward delivery.
A second river barge, Expecto, carrying the replacement 220-tonne rotor then arrived and was offloaded onto the quay before being lifted onto the Terra Marique, where Robert Wynn’s crew lashed and secured the cargo ahead of the return voyage to Fécamp.
The project was not without its challenges. On arrival in Fécamp with the new rotor, a temporary breakdown of the port’s swing bridge prevented the planned transit. To keep the project on schedule, the Terra Marique undertook a night-time manoeuvre, through the Bassin de Mi-Marée with centimetres of clearance into the Bassin Freycinet.
Robert Wynn general manager, Andy Manners, said: “While we have loaded and discharged cargo at Fécamp on many occasions, this was the first time we have navigated the 17.5 m-wide entrance into Bassin Freycinet in darkness. Navigating under our own power with such tight clearances was a challenge, but one our team met head-on.”
Once repositioned at the quay, the vessel’s hydraulic roadway and ballast system were configured for a ro-ro discharge of the replacement rotor, ready for onward transport to the Paluel power station.
Working for Ziegler Group, Robert Wynn’s engineers and crew coordinated the loading, lifting, and ro-ro elements of the project alongside partners in Rotterdam and Fécamp.
