The equipment needed to be delivered to the Ravenswood Gold Mine in Queensland, which is undergoing a major expansion. The first stage of the project includes the recommissioning of the third grinding mill at a processing plant with the aim of increasing processing rates to five million tonnes per year.
AAW Logistics coordinated the delivery of the ball mill components, which measured over 8.3 m long and 4.2 m wide and weighed 43.5 tonnes each, from Livorno. Wallenius Wilhelmsen mobilised roll trailers for the loading operations, with its technical specialists on hand to oversee the stowage of the components.
“The biggest challenge was trying to synchronise between AAW attaining their road permits and lining it up with one of our vessels. The disruption in the market made it difficult to align transport availability with shipping schedules,” explained Angelo Gnanasigamony, Wallenius Wilhelmsen sales representative, based in Australia.
Using third-party tonnage, the products were transhipped from Livorno to Bremerhaven, where they were fumigated against brown marmorated stink bugs (BMSB) before the final leg of the journey to Australia.
“Wallenius Wilhelmsen supported us right from the beginning of the project, from providing freight estimates at the tendering stage through to the products’ arrival at Brisbane and the Australia team ensured we received regular updates, space and equipment when it was required,” added Darren Bennett, general manager AAW Project Logistics.
