China's heavy-duty transport vehicles have evolved as the country's developing infrastructure construction increases demand.
A transport machinery company, Wanshan Special Vehicle, in Xiaogan City, central China, has upgraded its heavy-duty automated guided vehicle (AGV), which is used to transport extra-large and heavy units. In its latest 4th version, the vehicle increases its single-axle load capacity from 30 tons to 60 tons to meet higher transport demands.
In the first half of this year, the company's total contract value increased by about 76 percent over the same period last year, as several large infrastructure and energy projects are underway in the country.
Shi Libing, transportation team leader of Sinopec Heavy Lifting and Transportation, a customer of the company, said their construction projects are in need of ultra heavy-duty vehicles.
"We are currently working on projects in various parts of the world, including the petrochemical and wind power industries, mainly involving a wide range of towers and heavy equipment," he said.
Among the tasks already completed by this machine are transporting more than 200 tons of extra-long cold boxes around several 90-degree corners to a dock six or seven kilometers away in northeastern China and, in Shanghai, cement cylinders weighing thousands of tons each used to reinforce embankments.
"The difficulty of the projects is upgrading, and the fittings and parts are larger in size, which is more demanding for transportation vehicles. Next, we construction companies will strengthen cooperation with equipment manufacturers to solve engineering problems and develop together," said Gu Yunjie, deputy project manager of Dayang Mountain Engineering Base.
Wang Hongling, heavy engineering director of Wanshan Special Vehicle, said the latest version of the AGV has shrunk in size but increased in load capacity for tougher transportation tasks.
"Reducing the weight of the 'giant' is a demonstration of the technical strength of our company. The increasing complexity of current projects requires us to improve our products, increasing their load capacity and minimizing their size and structure, in order to serve our country's high-end, precise and specialized transportation," she said.
To date, the company's vehicles have been exported to nearly 20 countries, including the United States, Australia, Norway, and Singapore. The development team is also designing new models with a single-axle load capacity of 70 tons for more demanding tasks.
"More and more super projects have emerged in various fields, which shows the capabilities of our country, and also provides a very good opportunity for us to research and develop heavy equipment to complete the transportation of super engineering parts. In the future, we will continue to build new quality productivity and enhance China's manufacturing capabilities," said Wang Libo, deputy manager of Wanshan Special Vehicle.
China's heavy duty transport vehicles evolve with infrastructure construction
