±¬×ߺÚÁÏ

There's a strange beauty to the transport of ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ components. It comes from the revolving lights piercing the night, from the slow progress of the trailer and its escort of a dozen vehicles, from the deserted roads and sleeping villages...

 

For three nights, from 4 to 7 May, the second Highly Exceptional Load (HEL) to be delivered to ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ made its way along the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Itinerary. A few minutes past 3:00 a.m., on Thursday 7 May, two large trailers—each loaded with a 79-ton cylindrical tank—passed the gate of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ site.

 

Five weeks after the US-procured components had embarked for their transatlantic voyage and 11 days after they were at Marseille's industrial harbour in Fos-sur-Mer, the tanks had reached their home at last.

 

The final leg of the voyage, from the village Meyrargues to the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ site, was uneventful—which is the best possible result for such a delicate logistics operation. The schedule was respected and even improved by half an hour. By mid-afternoon both tanks had been unloaded and carefully stored into the large hangar at the entrance to ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Headquarters.

 

Out in the open they resembled giant beer kegs. In the hangar, they looked like the segments of a star-bound rocket.