During the river navigation period, from October to August 2016, a record high volume of heavy and oversize petrochemical equipment was delivered to the construction site of ZapSibNeftekhim. The cargo originated in Japan and South Korea, going all the way up to Tobolsk through the Pacific, Indian, Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, and the rivers of Ob and Irtysh. Overall, 58 units of large-size equipment have been delivered to Tobolsk this year.

The hardest part was to transport two heavy propane fractionation columns measuring 106 m in length and 8 m in diameter and weighing some 917 tonnes. Roman Maximov, head of SIBUR's Oversize Load Land Transportation, said that it had taken the Company nearly two years to arrange for this transportation. At first, the Company engaged a dedicated R&D institute to perform the required calculations. After that, it took the Company nearly two years to upgrade its surface infrastructure to be able to deal with the heavy load cargoes. The revamps included migration of nearly 40 power transmission lines, construction of a bypass route to detour a public railway, erection of a bridge crossing over the pipeline serving the facilities of SIBUR's Tobolsk site, development of a bypass road network, and consolidation of earth beds and road pavements. To facilitate cargo transportation along the Ob and Irtysh Rivers, the Company undertook dredging works and renovated the port of Tobolsk. The heavy propane fractionation columns travelled a total distance of around 15,000 km.

"The columns were ready for transportation in late April or early May. If we had opted for the 45 day shipment through the Suez Canal, the equipment would have been in Sabetta in mid-June, just in time for the opening of the Kara Strait. But had we chosen to use the Bering Strait, the best month for that route would have been August. That meant that the columns would have reached Tobolsk one month later. But in this case, even a 10-day delay in the delivery of such oversize equipment can result in the project being postponed by one year," said Svetlana Ivashchenko, Deputy CEO, Head of ZapSibNeftekhim's Inventory and Logistics Division.

Download PDF