One of the "largest objects ever to be moved on UK roads" began the last leg of its journey this evening.
Part of the M53 was closed on Saturday evening, from 7pm, to allow for the delivery of a huge new furnace to Essar's Stanlow refinery. The new furnace is one of the largest objects ever to be moved on UK roads, and is the main module of the UK’s first hydrogen-ready furnace.
It is expected to fill the whole of the motorway and will take 15-hours to complete. As a result, the Southbound carriageway in Ellesmere Port was closed between junction 5 at Hooton and junction 10 for Cheshire Oaks as well as junctions 10 and 8 on the Northbound carriageway.
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The lanes are expected to open again at 10am on Sunday. Pictures captured by the ECHO shows the massive load setting off on its journey, which is expected to "take a while".
The load is 26.5 metres long, 18.5 metres tall, and 14.2 metres wide, twice the length of a road-going oil tanker and almost five times the height of a double-decker bus. Images show the sheer height as workers kickstart the final leg of the journey.
Stewart Prentice, Head of Projects, at Essar said: "We would like to thank National Highways for their support in this mammoth task, especially in facilitating closure of the M53 as our new furnace travels on its final leg to Stanlow. The new furnace is one of the largest objects ever to be moved on UK roads and key to Essar’s strategy of transitioning to being a low carbon energy provider at the forefront of decarbonisation in the North West."
The journey
After arriving by ship from Thailand to the Port of Liverpool in June it was transferred to a barge for the short trip across the River Mersey, through the locks into the Manchester Ship Canal and onto a holding bay near National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port. The last leg of its 6,000 mile, and mostly watery, journey will be along the M53 motorway and A5117 local road.
Straddling both the northbound and southbound carriageways the module will then be slowly and carefully moved at walking pace some three miles onto Essar Oil UK’s Stanlow site, exiting the M53 at junction 10 and travelling along the A5117 local road.
A diversion will be in place using the A550 and A494 trunks between junction 5 and junction 11 at Stoak Interchange where the M53 meets the M56. Also assisting the "mammoth load" are officers from North West Motorway policing team and Cheshire Police.
As part of the work to accommodate the abnormal load, National Highways confirmed they will need to remove and restore a number of lighting columns and matrix signs from the central reservation, boundary fencing and safety barrier from the verge, some safety barrier from the central reservation and a number of signs.
Gordon Beattie, our abnormal loads manager for the North West added: "There are abnormal loads and there are abnormal loads – and this one will completely fill the motorway. The module will be mounted on two wheeled platforms - one on each carriageway - and will look a bit like the bridge of a container ship gliding down the motorway.
"This has been a huge logistical challenge for everyone involved but we’ll be closing the motorway at a time when traffic is at its lightest and a very good diversion will be in place."
The furnace
The new furnace is part of Government-backed plans to include hydrogen in the race to reduce the country’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. A UK-first, the furnace is unique in that it will run off 100% hydrogen fuel source from 2026.
More information can be found online by clicking here.
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