Fort McKay, Canada – For the first time in Mammoet and Finning history, a fully assembled Cat 797 was transported from Fort McKay in Northern Alberta to a mining customer site in mid-October. A Cat 797 is an off-highway, ultra-class, two-axle, mechanical powertrain haul truck developed by Caterpillar. This move followed the signing of an agreement between Mammoet and Finning for transport between customer sites in the Wood Buffalo Region.
Since Mammoet had already done transports of the smaller Cat 793 rock truck and a large shovel, Finning and Mammoet initiated conversations about the possibility of transporting a Cat 797 and the associated challenges.
This was not an easy task, given the 797 has a gross operating weight of 687 metric tons (1.5 million pounds) and a load weight of 306 metric tons (675,000 pounds). In the past, these trucks were partially disassembled prior to transport and then reassembled at the client site – which added to the overall costs and time. Kellie Brannan, Finning’s project manager for this project, stated of the delivery solution proposed by Mammoet: “We were able to remove concerns around safety, cost, downtime, and the inconvenience of dismantling a truck for transport”.
Mammoet is the world’s largest service provider specializing in engineered heavy lifting and transport. Mammoet Canada Western Ltd., together with Mammoet Solutions, delivered a detailed design that demonstrated innovative engineering and smart application of industry practices to bring this “first” to the industry and reduce costs and downtime for the client. The successful and safe move of this first truck will be followed by a number more before the end of the year.
