Have you ever wondered how a dump truck too heavy for the roads is transported? In the documentary “Mega Transports: Mining Truck”, you will discover how Mammoet, a multinational company in Canada, handles the transportation of an ultra-class dump truck called the 797.
The 797 is the biggest dump truck ever built by Caterpillar and is considered the workhorse of the North American mining industry. Its record-breaking size is matched only by its price, which ranges from six to eight million dollars. To extract natural gas in the province of Alberta, heavy machinery such as the 797 is necessary.
The documentary takes place in the no-man’s-land of Fort McKay, where the Mammoet team assembles a custom trailer to transport the 300-ton 797 to an oil sands surface mine only 7 kilometers away. However, 176 wheels are not enough to carry the weight of the mammoth truck, which is twice the weight of its load, making it the mother of all mega-transports.
Due to the road’s inability to withstand the weight of a 300-ton truck with only four wheels, the transport has to be done before rush hour using a special trailer. The team has to precisely assemble the trailer before they can even begin loading the truck.
In the documentary, viewers are introduced to the tough men with delicate fingers and eagle eyes who take on the challenge of transporting the 797. The mammoth transport requires everything from man and machine.
Watch “Mega Transports: Mining Truck” and witness the awe-inspiring feat of transporting the biggest dump truck in the world.
