Train with pines runs from Tranqueras direct to the port

Third cargo of pine logs for China embarks today

A railway train with 27 wagons loaded with pine logs is already running directly from Tranqueras to the port of Montevideo to be shipped on a ship bound for China. This is an innovation in the field of transport of wood that is being made for the first time in the country and is currently operating the port operator DSC Pantzin, in order that this pilot plan offers answers about the convenience of Use this means of transport with any adjustments that may be necessary in the future. It is a railway convoy with 27 wagons that, after traveling 477 km Monday, will enter the port to start loading operations on the ship that will take them to China.

Each of these wagons carries two bundles or bundles of 15 tons each with rollers that measure 5.90 and 3.90 meters long -represent 30 tons per wagon- with which the pilot experience will handle this time a total of 810 tons of pines. For this experimental operation, the operating company will have the coordination and support of AFE and ANP technicians so that the trial is smooth and successful; The objective is to find the data that is sought in order to open new positive projections in the future with this means of transport for logs and other merchandise.

IN PORT. According to the scheduled work plan, the entrance to the port will be in three convoys of nine wagons each, which due to the works that are being done inside the port area, will prevent the train from placing the wagons next to the ship . So, just a short distance from quay C, the loading of the wagons will be transferred to trucks that will be placed next to the ship and this will begin today the shipment of some 32 thousand tons of pine trees destined for China. The rest of the cargo will go to the port from a stockpile in the Cerro. We have heard that at the moment it is not clear the convenience of placing the wagons on the side of the ship due to its complexity of movements. This is the third export of rolls made by the company Muradir and whose cargo operator is DSC Pantzin.

However, this will not be the only experience that these actors will carry out in the future, but others will come, each with more precise adjustments to achieve total efficiency in both rail transport and the delivery of the rolos in the port.

ANECDOTES. In fact, we have witnessed in past years the shipment of first quality eucalyptus trunks in 20-foot containers placed on railway wagons on the side of the ship. They were logs selected by a Vietnamese businesswoman who came to Uruguay to choose their logs, and who once told us that with this wood in their country they made furniture for export.

Finally, we do not want to overlook that the 27 wagons used in the pilot operation, we do not know, but we assume that they could be those who arrived at the port of Montevideo from Slovakia at the end of March 2005 in the Roro ship “Republic Argentina “of the Grimaldi company. There were 27 used wagons, and in a tender called by AFE, a well-known Slovak company specialized in railway material was hired for recycling and tuning. It was then said that they were special wagons for the transport of forest products with a loading capacity of up to 40 tons or two 29-foot containers, depending on the condition of the tracks, that is, a problem of friction between the wheel and the curve of the profile. of the rail. These wagons came already armed and were put on the road by the ship that brought them from Hamburg. We reiterate that we do not know if they are the same ones that are being used now in the pilot operation. We have been told that AFE has many more wagons of this type in stock.