Transportes Muciño uses Faktor 5 and Addrive to haul turbines

Transportes Muciño was the first heavy haul company in Mexico to use both a Goldhofer Faktor 5 and an Addrive for a project that involved transporting 13 gas turbines weighing 186 to 289 tons. The turbines were transported over a distance of more than 1,100 kilometers. The turbines will be used in the construction of three power plants, including the new El Carmen combined cycle power plant in Nuevo Leon.

“With its enormous payload plus maximum load securing options for the cargo, the Faktor 5 was an indispensable helper,” said Raul Cuevas, commercial director at Transportes Muciño. “With the help of the Addrive, we were able to make the overall vehicle configuration as compact as possible and to carry out the entire project in the shortest possible time.”

The routes were mostly on good roads, but there were a number of challenges such as bridges to be crossed, the climb into the mountains of Cd Victoria and the steep descent to Saltillo. With the additional power available from the Addrive, the Muciño team were able to handle the 10 percent grades. Frequent use was made of the Bluetooth synchronization feature on the Addrive for optimum coordination with the tractor at travel speeds of up to 15 kph. Goldhofer’s switchable auxiliary drive provided the necessary additional traction on critical passages, the company said. It also made it possible to cross bridges without using tractors in order to reduce the overall weight of the configuration.

The gigantic rig – some 95 meters long, 6.84 meters wide and around 5.3 meters tall – reached the various power plants without any notable problems.

“In view of the confined space on the site of the power plant, we replaced the tractor with the Addrive there, Said Cuevas. “That gave us the maneuverability we needed for the extra-long rig and enabled us to achieve precise positioning.

Each individual gas turbine was delivered exactly to the specific unloading point and the entire project was completed on schedule.

Since the 1990s, Transportes Muciño has been using Goldhofer specialized transportation solutions. In 2016, the company took delivery of a the Goldhofer Faktor 5 high girder bridge in order to handle some special heavy haul projects. They also acquired four Addrive units to use for operations in mountainous terrains, the company said. 

Transportes Muciño was founded in Altamira, Mexico in 1979. The company has since made a name for itself as Mexico’s leading transportation specialist and handled major international projects in the USA, Canada and the Dominican Republic.