The Lower reaches of Sungei Lematang are wide and deep enough to be navigable all year round, without encountering any significant obstructions.

This village arch did not allow sufficient clearance for some of the overdimensioned loads. It was therefore necessary to obtain local authority permission to remove the top of the arch and reinstate it once all affected cargo had passed.

This village arch also did not provide adequate clearance to allow overdimensioned cargo to pass. This picture shows the arch with the centre section removed to provide unhindered clearance. On completion of the project the arch was rebuilt to its original condition..

This steel truss bridge had the same maximum restrictions and Sungei Niru has steep riverbanks, necessitating considerably more earthworks. The approaches to the bridge were also elevated by 3.0 m above general ground level. The same gravel by-pass solution was applied, again using steel pipes to maintain water flow. Klockner-INA's project managers eventually decided to reduce loads to within allowable road limits to avoid infrastructure works such as this.

This steel truss bridge was subject to the same restrictions as the Kramasan crossing. The solution was to build a 100 m long by-pass road spanning the irrigation channel beside the bridge. The soft, swampy ground was heavily compacted and a 6 m wide gravel road laid on top. To facilitate continued irrigation water flow, large-diameter steel pipes were laid on the channel bed prior to laying the gravel road across it.

The road crossing Sg. Kramasan and the railway track is elevated on concrete piles to a maximum height of 10 m above ground level over a distance of 430 m. To avoid the weight restrictions placed on this stretch of road by the Public Works Department, a gravel path running parallel to the road appeared to be the solution.



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Upgrading the path by compacting and widening it over a distance of 430 m provided an adequate by-pass. In addition, beachheads were constructed on each bank of the river and a barge towed to the location and used as a "ferry" for roll on/roll off operation.





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For decades the Ampera Bridge in the centre of Palembang was the only road artery across the Musi river. Despite its size it could not handle large units due to its low overhead structures.








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The newly-built steel truss bridge has a height limitation of 5.0m and a maximum weight restriction of 60 m/tons per unit.

For units exceeding these maxima, the solution was to excavate a basin next to the bridge, allowing a barge to conduct roll-off operations. The location also minimized additional road construction work.



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Musi river: Palembang - Moro Lematang (65 km)
"Air Musi" - as it is called locally - is one of South Sumatra's major transport arteries. Navigable by small river craft up to 600 km upstream, tugs and barges can generally reach up to 350 km upstream from Palembang.

Sungei Lematang: Moro - Batuaja (112 km)
The Sungei Lematang is a winding river with a large number of looping turns, with shallow silt banks at the inner bends. Rivers like this are formed when the water slows enough at the inner bend to deposit some of the silt it is carrying. These deposits build-up, further reducing the water speed while forcing it to increase at the opposite bank, constantly scooping away the far bank and river bed. Over time, this process diverts the river into a series of evermore-extreme and shallow bends, which can eventually restrict navigation.

In order to accurately locate the potential obstacles existing during the various seasons due to variations in the river's depth and width, it was critical for Hansameyer to conduct several exacting surveys, using coordinates fixed by the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS).               

Boom Baru port, in Palembang, is of secondary classification with limited port facilities available. It was therefore necessary to utilise vessels which had the self-sufficient capability to discharge their cargo using ship-board cranes, rather than relying on the limited lifting capacity of the port's own cranes.

Due to the limited numbers of available trailers, most of the general cargo had to be offloaded by ships crane and moved to the port's storage areas, from where continuous deliveries to the Musi Pulp job-site were made.

Because of the limited capacity of the port cranes, various options for handling heavy-lifts and overdimensioned cargo had to be considered:

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1. Discharge units directly onto receiving beams. Multi-axle trailers could then use their own hydraulic lifting capacity to move the units into temporary storage on stillages or timber blocks, thus avoiding the need for further use of cranes.

2. For the alternate route via the Musi and Lematang rivers, oceangoing vessels would use their own cranes to discharge units directly onto ready-prepared steel supports positioned on the barges. This would allow hydraulic trailers to be moved under them for roll-off operation at the destination.

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The port of Panjang, located on the southern tip of Sumatra was considered as a possible alternative route for delivery of materials to the job site. Although, at 460 km, the National Highway No. 25 presented no significant difficulties as far as Martapura, the remainder of the route included three major obstacles which led to Hansameyer excluding the Southern route from their considerations.

Obstacle 1 : In Martapura itself, a steel truss bridge with a span of 270 m imposed a headroom limit of 5.0 m.

Obstacle 2 : In Baturaja, an old single-lane concrete bridge imposed a headroom of 3.8 m and width restriction of only 4.5 m, representing a severe obstacle for over-dimensioned and heavy cargo.

Obstacle 3 : In Muaru Enim, a railway viaduct with a headroom of 4.7 m could not be by-passed due to the embankment.

The road between Baturaja and Muaru Enim also features some severe gradients and tight curves which would be dangerous for large trailers and trucks to negotiate.