As Bahrain’s leading organised transporter, for industrial projects and a company with decades of experience in the field, it came as no surprise that Turk Heavy Transport’s (THT) expertise would be requisitioned for Alba’s Potline 5 project.

The company worked on the project with the engineering, procurement, construction and management (EPCM) contractor Bechtel and its local subcontractors such as Inchcape Shipping Services, the Nass Group and Ahmed Mansoor Al-A’ali  (AMA) to name a few. In Potline 5 THT transported more material than in Potline 4 because the project size was much larger, said Khalid Turk, director of Ali A Jalil Turk Est. “During the term of the project, the size of traffic at the site was incredible and we were very fortunate not to have any serious accidents,” he stressed.
There was no question of taking chances with safety issues.
“For every cargo we moved we took fresh precautions as we considered each item as sensitive to the project,” recalled Turk.  Any damage to the cargo in transit would have been a setback as the project was ongoing and working to a tight schedule.
The company uses traditional trailers for consignments such as containers, loose cargo and/or palletised cargo, and extendable trailers are utilised for long cargo. For oversized or very heavy cargo, THT utilises hydraulic lowbeds while for out-of-gauge or overweight cargo the company deploys different variations of hydraulic lowbeds to meet the requirements of various dimensions and weights of that cargo. In the event it needs additional axle lines, the company summons them from its associate in Dubai. Nothing comes in the way of the harmonious movement of goods from one place to another.  For Potline 5, raw materials and factory goods were delivered from different location configurations – port to site; port to local manufacturers; local manufacturers to other local manufacturers; local manufacturers to site; locations within site.
Turk Heavy Transport transported all the furnaces required for the expansion and these were large equipment, as much as 11 m in length, 6 to 7 m wide and around 5 m in height. The furnaces were moved on behalf of the subcontractor AMA. THT had to transport a total of 336 potshells, 336 superstructures and 336 busbars from local manufacturers. Each was about 15 m x 5 m x 3 m at 35 tonnes. The deliveries were carefully planned and completed without any delays!
All Potline 5 workers and supervisors as well as those likely to visit the work site had to undergo a special safety induction course organised by Bechtel. And although Turk Heavy Transport follows its own safety guidelines, as do other contractors, it had to submit to the course. “This course was very well organised and we all benefited from it.” said Turk. “If any sensitive or hazardous material was imported and required special attention, we’d have a meeting with Bechtel’s logistics officials to make the necessary preparations.” Bechtel was very specific about the equipment to be used and checked if it was well maintained so that no leakage occurred and the environment would be safe,” recalled Turk.  All personnel from director to labourer had to don safety equipment on site. Although THT transported all the cargo, it was Bechtel, its subcontractors or Turk Heavy Transport (when required) that conducted offloading. As part of its services, Turk Heavy Transport had offloading equipment such as cranage and forklifts available immediately, along with a team of labourers.
In addition to Bechtel’s project, Turk Heavy Transport also transported the general cargo, as well as several out-of-gauge cargo for the power plant at Alba. The EPCM contractor was Alstom, and the project transportation was subcontracted to THT through Gulf Agency Co.
The company has met the transportation needs of most of Bahrain’s power stations across the country from Riffa to Hidd. “We have been the only contractors to move all transformers to site and to place them on foundation by jacking and skidding,” said Turk.
Turk Heavy Transport has undertaken some of the toughest jobs. “At Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC), several years ago, we handled a 180-tonne, 50-m-long reactor. You can imagine the work that went into it,” said Turk. For Alba’s calcining coke plant, a few years ago, the majority of the cargo transported by THT was oversized. “We co-operated with our associate firm for the engineering and configuration of the hydraulic lowbeds to transport the cargo,” he recounted.
The company was recently awarded the Bapco LSDP project.  There are many heavy pieces expected for this project; however there will be a single piece of equipment weighing 900 tonnes, 6 m in diameter and 30 m long, which will be a spectacle to watch. The super heavylift has been contracted to Turk Heavy Transport’s associates, ALE.
Over the years, the Turk Group diversified its activities and established a new division in 1985, called Turk Mechanical Industries (TMI) Co WLL. Its main activities include heavy and light fabrication, foundrywork and machining services in the kingdom. TMI is proud to have been awarded several contracts for the Potline 5, and was involved in the redesign and fabrication of several items for the project.
To name a few, they are the new tapping tubes, specially designed aluminium ladders, coke screens, reinforced hoods and their storage racks.
Turk Heavy Transport is among the oldest players in project transportation and logistics management in the Gulf, its business having commenced in the late 1950s. The establishment was started by Abdul Jalil Turk, Khalid Turk’s grandfather.  Khalid’s father, Ali A Jalil Turk, further developed the business and he is well known as the pioneer of the transport business in Bahrain. It was also Ali Turk’s decision to diversify into the mechanical engineering field.
Now with industry getting more sophisticated and greater attention being paid to the environment, Turk says his company has to keep pace with developments to stay in the competition. He also comments that diversification within the transportation and mechanical engineering sectors is inevitable. “If you have to face new challenges, you have to adapt and change to meet them,” he says, while stressing it will not be diversification for its own sake, but that market considerations would weigh heavily when making any decisions in that regard.