The wind turbine components arrived into Portland over 12 months on 26 separate ships. ARES received the cargo under hook and transferred into the nearby storage area, before staging deliveries to site over 16 months. Deliveries continued even through the adversity and uncertainty of the principal contractor changing midway through the project.

The blades for the project were the longest ever transported in Australia at the time, measuring 71 metres in length and providing an unprecedented logistical challenge. This included having to transport the blades through the middle of the Victorian town of Nhill. Careful planning and consultation ensured these blades were delivered with minimal impact to the community.

The base tower sections were also the largest ever transported in Australia, measuring in at 5.8m in diameter. On their trailers, these took up nearly two lanes on a typical country road, and their height also required a large number of overhead power lines to be lifted prior to transport.

The primary transport route for components went around Hamilton, skirted the western boundary of the Grampians National Park and bypassed Horsham before arriving at Murra Warra Wind Farm – a trip of 259km one way.

An alternate route for the blades was required due to their length. This headed northwest from Hamilton towards Nhill before turning east to Murra Warra.

With our specially made bookend trailers, we were able to minimise the overall transport height of the 5.8m-diameter tower sections, enabling us to minimize any issues with overhead assets along the route.

The bookends were adjustable for a range of different tower flange sizes, allowing them to carry a variety of tower sections, and strong enough to withstand tower weights of up to 80 tons.