At 6:00, February 23 of 2020, five carrier vehicles from Liaoning Province, fully loaded with medium and heavy plates, arrived at fabrication yard of Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport Expansion Project. Local government officials and project department staff on the site were amazed by the action. It took 54 hours and 2,000 kilometers to deliver the steel products they needed during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pneumonia, making it possible to press the "resume work button" for the supporting project of the 2022 Asian games.
The epidemic prevention and control in Anshan, Liaoning remained grim five days ago. Getting the message of "work resumption is soon, while steel products needed for Xiaoshan Airport project are still stuck in Bayuquan Port", the marketing staff of Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation couldn’t sit still. On the same day, staff from medium and heavy plate products business department and the logistics management center of Anshan Iron and Steel Company Limited and Delin Land Port of Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation were convened to work out a solution.
"Shipping by sea is out of the question at this moment." "The epidemic risk is too high for motor carrier because of the long distance across so many provinces." Through discussion, two solutions were made at length; on the one hand, the 663 tons of steel products urgently needed by clients storing at Bayuquan Port would be delivered by 20 trucks arranged overnight to Hangzhou directly; on the other hand, another port will be selected as an alternative to marine distribution plan.
Just within two days and until 21:00 February 20, five trucks from Ansteel, loaded with about 150 tons of rolled steel were gathered at the expressway intersection of Bayuquan. In view of the long distance and pressing time, the eight robust drivers were assigned to accompany with the fleet. The 41-year-old Di Wei, among them the oldest, acted as the captain of fleet.
Due to numerous inspection procedures at the expressway intersection for the epidemic outbreak, the fleet was lined up to wait until midnight before they were allowed to access the expressway.
The fleet drove through Hebei Province via Tianjin, Shandong and Jiangsu all the way to the south. All services zones along expressways were closed, leaving only the toilet available to use. Except going to washroom, the fleet staff had their meals and slept in their trucks. "You must not catch a cold because there are many health checkpoints on the way." Before sleeping or taking a rest, all drivers needed to measure the temperature inside the truck mutually, tucked in the quilt and had doors and windows fully shut.
“38, passed.” “52, passed” and “all passed”. The fleet was about 100 meters long when all five trucks were lined up, everyone would notify each other in Wechat group when having passed each checkpoint. After crossing the border into Zhejiang, the epidemic inspection was tightened. The eight drivers used their mobile phones to scan the QR code for health check one by one to track the travel routes of each individual to confirm if anyone of them had been to the epidemic area before giving the green light to go.
On February 23, the five trucks safely arrived at the fabrication yard, finishing the 2000km long-distance transportation mission.
In the meantime, there was good news about seeking for the alternative port for sea transportation. The 1,000 tons of steel plates had been delivered to the project site through the alternative port to ensure the sustained supply of steel products for the project.