The giant dragline has spent all of its working life at the Stobswood opencast site, near Morpeth.

But since October last year,the monster muckshifter has been painstakingly dismantled ready for a big move to America.

The project is now in its final stage of the UK movement with some of the larger and more awkward pieces recently transported to the Port of Blyth — a project that was managed by leading logistics specialists, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics UK and transported by RTH Lubbers.

John Ashbrook, Seafreight Manager for Hellmann Worldwide Logistics UK said: "One of the sites at the Port of Blyth which is dedicated to the Ace of Spades dragline currently looks like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

"We have thousands of nuts and bolts in drums, smaller and more delicate pieces in several containers and now the larger pieces have arrived at the site ready for the 'jigsaw' to be transported to the US."

Hellmann has been working with the international transportation firm, RTH Lubbers to transfer the Ace of Spades pieces from its old site in Morpeth the ten mile distance to the Port of Blyth.

The transport firm has a base in Newcastle, as well as Aberdeen and the Netherlands, and is ideally located for this project. More importantly, the firm is perfectly equipped to transport everything from the smaller items to very large pieces due to the range of its vehicles and the size of its fleet.

The transportation of the machinery began in January with the smaller and more delicate pieces been transported first. Nevertheless, the most testing pieces to deliver were the final and larger components which were transported separately from the containers.

Stuart Ferguson, Commercial Director of RTH Lubbers said: "In its entirety, the Ace of Spade dragline weighs in at a massive 4,500tonnes so it is easy to imagine the sheer size and weight of the larger pieces that we have transported. One such piece, which is part of the dragline's generator, was 90tonnes and 42ft long.

"To transfer this piece to the port required comprehensive logistics planning and coordination, ensuring the roads were suitable for the movement and that police and the Highways Agency were informed before the movement took place."

Just like the dismantling of the Ace of Spades, the movement required just as much co-ordination between Hellmann, RTH Lubbers and owners of the dragline, North America Coal Corporation (NACC). This was conducted on a week-by-week basis which meant that once a week, the full team got together for a day of movement. When the project was complete, RTH Lubbers had made over 200 trips.

Mr Ferguson added: "The Ace of Spades is a really high-profile piece of machinery around the Morpeth area and surrounding neighbourhoods as it has been part of the landscape for several years

"As a local firm ourselves, we are really pleased to have worked on such a unique project especially as it has proven to be so varied and sometimes challenging. Ultimately, it is the partnership between the three firms that has really made this project a success."

The movement has been completed ahead of schedule. Now, with all the components in place, the 'Ace' will be shipped to the States on the same shipping service in a few weeks' time.