The lightest of the "heavy" loads
The voyage got off to a start in mid-November in the industrial port of Ulsan, Korea—more than 9,000 kilometres from the ITER site. Two months later, in January 2015, the "freight" was delivered to ITER.
The last two legs of the trip were the most delicate: unloading from the container vessel and storage during the holidays; followed by trailer transport—first by road, then by barge across the inland sea Etang de Berre, and finally along the 104-kilometre ITER Itinerary to the ITER site.
Procured by the United States, manufactured by Hyundai in Korea, transported by DAHER (ITER's global logistics provider), the electrical transformer was the first of many Highly Exceptional Loads that will be delivered to the project in the years to come. It was also the lightest of the "heavy" loads—87 tons, whereas the most impressive ITER components will reach 600 tons (plus another 200 tons for the transport vehicle).
For all components that will travel along the ITER Itinerary (see "A successful journey" in ITER Mag #1), the transport will be organized by DAHER and Agence Iter France in collaboration with French authorities, and financed by the European Domestic Agency for ITER.
Before the ITER Tokamak and plant systems are in place, over 250 Highly Exceptional Loads will have travelled along the ITER Itinerary.