‘Ace of Spades’ heading for the US

GLOBAL freight forwarders Hellmann Worldwide Logistics UK have won a unique contract to manage the transportation of one of the biggest excavators in Europe – the 4,500-tonne P&H 757 otherwise known as ‘Ace of Spades’. The massive walking dragline is currently being dismantled in preparation for a move from its current resting place at Stobswood, near Morpeth, Northumberland, to the port of Blyth, en route to a new and revitalized mining career in America.

From the early 1990s until its UK retirement in 2002, the ‘Ace of Spades’ operated at Stobswood OCCS, the UK’s largest opencast coal mine, where its 100-tonne capacity bucket and 300ft long boom were used to excavate millions of tonnes of rock, sand and clay overburden. Now, after several years lying dormant, ‘Ace of Spades’ has been sold to the North America Coal Corp. (NACC) and will come out of retirement to fulfil its original role.

Hellmann Worldwide Logistics UK, who were awarded the contract to manage the movement of the machine by NACC and have been working with the client since dismantling work began in October 2007, recently delivered a number of containers for the smaller pieces of machinery. These will be transported to the port ready for shipping with the final and larger components being transported separately.

John Ashbrook, sea freight manager for Hellmann Worldwide Logistics UK, commented: ‘It was quite breathtaking to first see ‘Ace of Spades’ in all its glory and from that moment we knew this would be a unique logistical project for Hellmann. We are delighted to be a part of it and look forward to starting our side of the project in earnest.’

Hellmann are due to manage the first stage of transportation this month, moving the containers and larger pieces of ‘Ace of Spades’ to the port of Blyth. Once in place, all the components will be shipped to the US on the same shipping service.