Two housings for the 'quarto' stand of the new '2800' rolling mill have been delivered to the Ashinsky Metallurgical Plant. Each solid-cast structure weighs over 315 tons. The equipment was manufactured in China, and the entire transportation to Asha took about two and a half months.
The housings serve as the load-bearing part of the rolling stand and withstand the forces arising during rolling. Each structure measures 13.6 m in length, 4.6 m in width, and 2.1 m in thickness. The design was optimized using finite element analysis at more than 3000 calculation points.
The route had to be divided among several modes of transport. From the Chengdu — Deyang area, the equipment was delivered by road to Leshan, then transported by China's inland waterways to Taicang Port. From there, the housings traveled by sea across the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic to Bronka Port near St. Petersburg. The sea leg took about 40 days.
In Russia, the cargo was reloaded onto a river barge and sent to Ufa via the Neva River, Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega, the Volga-Baltic Waterway, the Volga River, the Kama River, and the Belaya River. A temporary berth was equipped in Ufa to receive the housings, after which each structure was rolled onto a specialized 24-axle road train. The last approximately 110 km to Asha, the equipment traveled by road.
Before transportation, bridges were inspected, dimensional restrictions and turning radii were checked. In some sections, it was necessary to increase radii, reinforce the base with crushed stone mixture, and lay road slabs. Temporary traffic restrictions were also introduced along the route.
Construction of the rolling mill foundations continues at Rolling Shop No. 1. After the foundation work is completed, the enterprise plans to proceed with the installation of the housings and the formation of the stand. The new '2800' mill is intended to replace the existing '2850' hot rolling mill.