HAMILTON, Ont. - A kilometre-long convoy of beer vats is on the move, shutting down roads and downing hydro and cable lines in its path.
Massive vats that can hold six million bottles of beer are being hauled from Hamilton Harbour to a Molson Coors (TSX:TAP.A) facility near Pearson International Airport in Toronto.
The trip, which is expected to take four nights, began Friday night as the vats -- loaded on six flatbed trailers -- were slowly pulled out of the docks by transport trucks.
The beer vats are huge -- 45 metres long, eight metres high and more than seven metres wide.
The company in charge of their transport says planning the journey has been no easy task.
Challenger Motor Freight Inc. has worked with 70 different organizations in planning the route.
Challenger had to plan a route that would avoid overpasses and then co-ordinate with police forces to close intersections, raise or cut hydro and cable wires to get the vats through, steer trucks by remote control through tight areas and remove metal poles then weld them back in place.
Sarah Sheehan, a spokeswoman for Challenger, said power, phone and cable outages are expected to last about half an hour.
The 40-vehicle convoy, which includes some 20 police cruisers, will wind its way through Burlington, Halton Region, Oakville, Milton, Peel Region, Mississauga, Brampton and York Region before arriving at its destination on Tuesday morning.
Challenger's Frank DeVries said Friday night that he expects a lot of people will come out to see the convoy.
"It's not every day something like this rolls through town," said DeVries.
It will travel between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. to minimize disruption to local residents and businesses. During the day, the convoy will park along the side of the road.
Utility vehicles will also make up the convoy, as will a mechanic, a welder to reattach the approximately 250 traffic lights that are expected to be moved for the trucks to get through, and a food truck.
"Anyone could leave the port (of Hamilton) and walk to Molson and beat us there," DeVries said when asked how fast the convoy would be travelling.
Details of the beer vat convoy's route can be found on Challenger's website.
