National Highways will close a section of the M53 near Whitby overnight tomorrow (Saturday 13 August) as the largest single module for the UK’s first hydrogen-ready furnace is transported to Essar Oil UK’s Stanlow refinery near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire.
The module is 26.5m long, 18.5m tall and 14.2m wide and the operation on Saturday night is just the last leg of its over 9,600km journey from Thailand, where it was manufactured. It was sent by ship in one piece via the Suez Canal, arriving at the Port of Liverpool in June.
The module arriving at the Port of Liverpool
From there, the module was transferred on to a barge to cross the River Mersey and worked its way through the locks into the Manchester Shipping Canal. It was then placed into a holding bay near National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port, where it has remained for the last couple of months.
On Saturday night, the module will be moved away from the canal and on to the M53 via the southbound entry at junction 8. Moving at a walking pace, the module will be carefully transported down the M53 then exit at junction 10 to travel along the A5117 to its destination at the Stanlow refinery.
Its size means it will straddle both north and southbound carriageways, which will be closed from 7pm. National Highways will have to remove lighting columns and matrix signs from the central reservation, boundary fencing and safety barrier from the verge, some safety barrier from the central reservation and a number of signs. These will have to be restored before this section of the M53 can be reopened.
The module being transported by barge through Manchester Shipping Canal
Essar Oil’s 770ha site on the Ellesmere Port is home to a refinery that supplies 16% of the UK’s road transport fuels, and is now going to host the country’s first low-carbon refinery. The £45M furnace will be the centrepiece of the HyNet North West Decarbonisation Cluster and will become operational later this year. It is projected to produce 1GW of hydrogen annually across two units from 2026.
It is part of Essar Oil’s £1bn investment between 2021 and 2026 to drive down emissions. The company will decommission three existing furnaces, including a 140m-tall chimney, and replace them with the new highly-efficient furnace that has a chimney approximately 71m tall. The new gas-only refinery will significantly reduce emissions of carbon and nitrogen dioxide.
Once the refinery is operating 100% on hydrogen, it has the potential to reduce 242,000t of CO2 emissions every year. Ongoing maintenance costs will also be reduced.
National Highways abnormal loads manager for the North West Gordon Beattie said: “There are abnormal loads and there are abnormal loads – and this one will completely fill the motorway. The module will be mounted on two wheeled platforms – one on each carriageway – and will look a bit like the bridge of a container ship gliding down the motorway.
“This has been a huge logistical challenge for everyone involved but we’ll be closing the motorway at a time when traffic is at its lightest and a very good diversion will be in place.”
Essar head of projects Stewart Prentice said: “We would like to thank National Highways for their support in this mammoth task, especially in facilitating closure of the M53 as our new furnace travels on its final leg to Stanlow.
“The new furnace is one of the largest objects ever to be moved on UK roads and key to Essar’s strategy of transitioning to being a low carbon energy provider at the forefront of decarbonisation in the North West.”
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