INCOTEC CARGO has organized a new route for delivery of heavy-lift equipment for the oil refinery «Oil industry of Serbia» which is under construction in the Serbian town of Panchevo, involving Gazprom Neft.
As opposed to previous shipments within the framework of this project, dimensions of transported units didn’t allow direct railway carriage. Therefore, a completely new delivery route was developed. Equipment is trucked from the manufacturing plant URALKHIMMASH (Yekaterinburg, Siberia) to the port of Rostov-on-Don with a consequent shipment to Constanta (Romania). Then the lots are loaded onto tug/barge towing arrangement which delivers them to Panchevo along the Danube. From there on, the cargo is trucked to the refinery. Already the second consignment was sent along this route.
On 29th January 2012 INCOTEC CARGO forwarded the extra large unit from Yekaterinburg to Rostov-on-Don – rich amine flash drum. On this very day this unit weighing 55 tn, 15 m long, 4,5 m high and 5 m wide, was loaded onto the vessel for the on-carriage to Panchevo through Constanta.
A little bit earlier the three-unit lot traveled along this route. The weight of the heaviest element – balancing load barrel – amounted to 30 tn. Its length exceeded 17,5 m, and its width and height – about 4 m. The same consignment included a diesel vacuum dryer weighing 25,5 tn (15400х3450х3710) and a sulphur surge vessel of 15 tn (8532х3032х4340).
INCOTEC CARGO met the most serious challenges while carrying the equipment via the Danube River. Due to extremely low, critical water level, seen for the first time in 70 years, movement of the towing arrangement was carried out only in daytime, accompanied by surveys, measurement of depth along the entire route and replacement of powerful tug by two boats with lesser draught. Despite the existing difficulties, delivery of equipment to Panchevo was successfully accomplished within the terms, set by the Contract.
Construction of hydro cracking and hydro-treating complex was launched in June 2010 in Panchevo refinery. It was done within the framework of refinery capacity upgrade project of Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS). Its majority interest (51% of stock) belongs to Gazprom Neft. Total investments in this upgrade run to EUR 500 mln till 2012. The commission of the complex is scheduled for the third decade of 2012.