Vanguard has introduced an innovative wind blade shunt trailer in South Africa to improve the efficiency of wind blade transportation.
These specialized trailers, now actively in use, are designed to accommodate wind blades in both top and tail orientations, simplifying the transfer process from vessels to designated laydown areas. Traditional shipping methods often require ports to perform additional handling or allocate significant space for maneuvering. Vanguard’s trailer design eliminates these inefficiencies by allowing smooth movement through restricted port environments without unnecessary disruptions.
Features
A key feature of the new trailer is its dual-ended drawbar, which enables seamless shunting regardless of the blade’s orientation. The design also supports extensive blade overhangs when loaded in reverse, minimizing the need for infrastructure modifications such as removing street furniture. The modular configuration allows the trailers to be customized with specialized beams to transport wind blades of varying lengths. The first operational deployment successfully handled blades measuring 90.646 meters, demonstrating the system’s adaptability.
Currently, Vanguard is overseeing the transportation of 75 wind blades from the Port of Richards Bay to a nearby laydown area before transferring them onto Scheuerle RBTS (Rotor Blade Transportation System) trailers for a 500-kilometer journey to their final destination. According to Laura Hodgkinson, Senior Manager at Vanguard, the team has managed to transport over 15 blades per day despite spatial constraints at the port. She emphasized that Vanguard played a crucial role from the initial planning stage to the design and manufacturing of these specialized trailers, ensuring smooth operations in challenging conditions.