Pesado Transport uses Goldhofers at Mexico refinery job

At the jobsite of the Dos Bocas Refinery in Tabasco, Mexico, Mexican heavy haul specialist Pesado Transport moved some 650 heavy and oversized components through the refinery jobsite. The heaviest piece weighed more than 105,000 tons.

The jobsite had many obstacles, including tight roadways and weather issues. To move the pre-cast concrete components, Pesado assembled three different heavy-duty combinations of Goldhofer THP/SL modules. It took just four months to move all the precast concrete elements to their designated locations, where cranes were used to lift them into their final positions.

In order to meet the tight schedule for the installation of the concrete racks for the piping systems, Pesado chose three differently configured THP/SL combinations: a 16-axle and a 10-axle parallel combination, each with a width of 6.3 meters, for the 705.5-ton and 441-ton concrete elements respectively plus a 12-axle combination for the 246.5-ton components.

“Flexibility is always called for when it comes to safe, fast and economical transport operations on construction sites,” said J. Dolores Coronado, Project Manager at

The THP/SL modules used by Pesado Transport were ideal for on- and off-road transport at the Dos Bocas Refinery. The wide and heavy precast concrete pipe racks were transported on 12-axle/single width and 16-axle/double width Goldhofer transport systems.

Pesado. “The key is to handle the maximum number of journeys with the minimum number of vehicles. Goldhofer’s THP/SL modules can be configured end to end or side by side and so offer almost unlimited options for handling challenging loads. That makes them a reliable solution for us when it comes to meeting demanding project deadlines.”

Pesado was formed in 2012 from the construction company ESEASA Construcciones. The company specializes in transporting heavy and oversized loads, especially in difficult off-road conditions.

The refinery now under construction in Tabasco, Mexico, just three kilometers from the port of Dos Bocas, has a design capacity of 340,000 barrels per day (bpd), including 170,000 bpd of petrol and 120,000 bpd of ultra-low sulphur diesel. This will make it the biggest refinery in Mexico. Commercial production in this efficient refinery is scheduled to commence in mid-2022. The refinery was designed to reduce Mexico’s dependence on fuel imports. The refinery is owned and will be operated by the state-owned petroleum and gas company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex).