Subscribe options

Select your newsletters:

Please enter your email address:

@

Your email address will only be used for the purpose of sending you the ITER Organization publication(s) that you have requested. ITER Organization will not transfer your email address or other personal data to any other party or use it for commercial purposes.

If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe option at the bottom of an email you've received from ITER Organization.

For more information, see our Privacy policy.

News & Media

Latest ITER Newsline

  • Disruption mitigation | Final design review is a major step forward

    The generations of physicists, engineers, technicians and other specialists who have worked in nuclear fusion share a common goal, dedication and responsibility [...]

    Read more

  • Image of the week | Like grasping a bowl of cereal

    Contrary to the vast majority of ITER machine components, the modules that form the central solenoid cannot be lifted by way of hooks and attachments. The 110-t [...]

    Read more

  • Education | 13th ITER International School announced

    The 13th ITER International School (IIS) will be held from 9 to 13 December in Nagoya hosted by National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), Japan. The subject [...]

    Read more

  • Open Doors Day | Having fun while discovering ITER

    A public event on Saturday 13 April draws a big crowd. It was a beautiful, summer-like day on Saturday 13 April. Perfect for a journey into ITER. Nearly 800 mem [...]

    Read more

  • Fusion world | Increased awareness in a changing landscape

    The world of fusion research is changing fast, and world leaders are taking notice. The large public projects that occupied centre stage for the past decades ar [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

Welcome on board!

On Friday 28 March on a remote wharf at the Fos-sur-Mer industrial harbour, the loading of the ITER mockup convoy onto the barge took more than eight hours. It was the first time the maritime leg of the ITER Itinerary had been tested. (Click to view larger version...)
On Friday 28 March on a remote wharf at the Fos-sur-Mer industrial harbour, the loading of the ITER mockup convoy onto the barge took more than eight hours. It was the first time the maritime leg of the ITER Itinerary had been tested.
It's like driving a car onto a ferry. But it takes much, much longer and it's incomparably more delicate and complicated.

On Friday 28 March, on a remote wharf at the southwest end of the Fos-sur-Mer industrial harbour near Marseille, the loading of the ITER mockup convoy onto a barge took more than eight hours.

Progress was measured millimetre by millimetre as the weight of the 800-tonne monster trailer was gradually transferred from the solid ground to the water-borne combination of barge and pontoon.

Axle line after axle line (and there are 22 double pairs of them!) the trailer and its dummy load of stacked concrete blocks were slowly driven onto the pontoon as electronic calculators adjusted the barge's ballast in real-time.

Personnel from ITER logistics provider DAHER and the Compagnie Fluviale de Transport monitored every millimetre of progress as the trailer crossed onto the barge. (Click to view larger version...)
Personnel from ITER logistics provider DAHER and the Compagnie Fluviale de Transport monitored every millimetre of progress as the trailer crossed onto the barge.
Each time an axle line transferred its load from the ground to the barge a long pause (5-20 minutes) ensued. Balance was checked and calculators activated the filling and emptying of the ballast tanks to compensate the imperceptible, but potentially dangerous, pitching, tossing and rolling of the barge.

By the time the sun had set on the wharf, the trailer had progressed approximately 40 metres and its load had been safely transferred to the barge.

"This last phase is the most delicate," explained Alain Spatafora, the maritime expert commissioned by the ITER Organization and logistics provider DAHER, and Bernard Bon, DAHER head of convoy. "The centre of gravity of the trailer must now be perfectly aligned with the centre of buoyancy of the barge."

The last phase was the most delicate. The centre of gravity of the 800-tonne load must be perfectly aligned with the centre of buoyancy of the barge.<br /><br /> (Click to view larger version...)
The last phase was the most delicate. The centre of gravity of the 800-tonne load must be perfectly aligned with the centre of buoyancy of the barge.

On board, as bubble levels were laid on the deck to verify the perfect horizontality of the barge, the crew was busy making the last adjustments. Captains and sailors of the Compagnie Fluviale de Transports (CFT) are used to transporting exceptionally heavy loads, but at 800 tonnes this one exceeded anything they had experienced.

The night was falling when, in conformity with port regulations, Marseille harbour stevedores climbed on board to lash down the trailer and its load, marking the end of the operation.

The barge spent the weekend in protected docking (a strong north wind was expected during the night) and on Monday afternoon, weather permitting, it is expected to leave Fos, navigate into the narrow Caronte Canal through the town of Martigues and cross the inland sea Étang de Berre.

The trailer will then be unloaded at Port-de-la-Pointe on the north-western shore of the Étang, before commencing its slow progression towards the ITER site where it is expected at around 6:00 a.m. on Friday 4 April.

Click here for more images.

return to the latest published articles