Finnish truck driver Eerik Niela transports turnkey summer homes from their factory in Estonia, to their final destination at a holiday resort in Finland. The 700 km journey has to be done at night, at an average speed of only 25 km/h.

It is late Friday as M/S Stena Forecaster lowers its stern gate against the loading dock at the Port of Hanko. We are at the southernmost point in all of Finland. A popular summer resort among Finns, Hanko is surrounded by sea from three sides.

Senior traffic director Esa Penttinen is not here to relax, however. He has work to do. He is waiting at the loading dock with his five-man team. Six special transport pilot vehicles are parked nearby in orderly rows.

Jouni Räty, Henri Malmgren, Sauli Näppi, Mikko Simola and Juhani Wikholm are all experienced traffic directors. The Finnish Road Traffic Act states that traffic directors are civil servants with traffic direction rights and duties similar to the police, but excluding the right to impose fines.

On the car deck, there are four trucks with one 23-metre flatbed each, loaded with Akso homes measuring 7.05 metres in height and 7 metres wide. The gross combination weight of each rig is 90 tonnes.

These turn-key vacation homes have been built in the Akso Haus factory in Vasalemma, Estonia. From Vasalemma, the homes have been transported via the seaport of Paldiski to Hanko. Their final destination is Holiday Club Resorts Oy’s new holiday resort, currently under construction at Saimaa, eastern Finland.

The 700-kilometre distance is traversed at night at an average speed of 25 kilometres per hour. In Finland, special deliveries of this scope require approvals and permits from authorities, and the goal is to carry them out with minimal inconvenience to other traffic.

Eerik “Eetu” Niela, a Finn, and Estonians Arvi Koppel, Madis Hallimäe and Sulev Jersman had some time off to relax while crossing the Gulf of Finland, but now it is time for these experienced drivers to get down to business.

Eetu climbs into the spacious and well-equipped cab of his Volvo FH16-700 XXL, parked in the cargo bay of the ferry. The turn-key home resting on the flatbed is so large, however, that this job calls for teamwork. The full-sized vacation home obstructs all mirror visibility on both sides of the load.

In Heavy Haulage, the role of the traffic director is crucial. Seamless teamwork from drivers and traffic directors is required for the delivery to arrive on time and undamaged.

According to Penttinen, mutual trust is the foundation of a successful movement. In a tight spot, the driver must be able to follow traffic director signals to the tenth of an inch.

The people in Penttinen’s team are no strangers to one another. With familiar people, communication between traffic directors and drivers goes smoothly and the work proceeds safely. The escort personnel know the specific spots where a driver needs guidance, and the drivers know how to interpret the instructions.

At the port exit, the team confirms a working radio link between the pilot vehicles and the vehicle combinations. They are now ready to embark on their slow-moving journey. Two pilot vehicles lead the way and stop any oncoming traffic within the Hanko street network.

Penttinen drives ahead of the leading combination, measuring vertical clearance, pointing out correct driving lines with his vehicle, and using the radio to inform them of any obstructions affecting positioning, such as road signs, traffic lights, power lines, road railings, pedestrians and trees.

It sounds like a racing co-driver giving pacenotes – even if they are moving at a fraction of the speed.

“A boom to the right, blind. Stay the course, Eetu. Going great… cleared. A give way and a pedestrian crossing to the left. Some birch branches to the right, but plenty of space to the left,” Penttinen continues.

Penttinen’s guidance is exact and calm, delivered with the poise of someone very experienced at their job. Eetu follows the pilot vehicles and the instructions.

Penttinen leads the convoy through the city of Hanko, but his work starts weeks before the actual transport. In planning the transport, a map application is an important tool. In the application, Penttinen has over 14,000 measurements, gathered over the years at different points along Finland’s road network.

Penttinen first drives the planned route from start to finish and checks, among other things, the clearance on underpasses, railings, streetlights and power lines, the maximum capacity for all bridges and the mouth size for all underpasses. Planning a special transport of this scope takes an average of three working days.

When a plan is complete, it is time to contact the authorities to obtain the appropriate transport permits. Penttinen goes through the plan with permit experts, and they evaluate the route from the perspective of traffic and safety.

“Road safety is the main concern, everything else comes second. All plans are made so that driver, traffic director and road user safety are not compromised.”

Throughout the actual transport, Penttinen communicates with the traffic management centre which provides official bulletins for the media on traffic disruptions. This allows other road users to be informed about which section of road the abnormal load is travelling.

On the highway, a third pilot vehicle moves to the front of the convoy. The escort vehicles make sure that all traffic moves out of the way to the side of the road. The lead vehicle travels about a kilometre ahead and slows down all oncoming traffic. The other two ensure that the vehicles pull over at a safe distance.

Pilot vehicles are equipped with loudspeakers to assist in giving orders. All trucks are informed through short-wave radio that a transport 7 metres wide is approaching and requires making way by pulling over to a bus stop or a lay-by. For passenger cars, pulling over to the side of the road is enough.

On the road is where Eetu’s Volvo FH16 truly finds its groove. It effortlessly accelerates to 60 km/h, the top permitted speed.

“Here is where power makes a difference. The gross combination weight equals nearly 100 tonnes, but she accelerates like a passenger car,” Eetu says.

Even with speed picking up, a queue soon forms. There is no safe way to overtake, because the extra-wide delivery takes up both lanes.

The first and the last escort vehicles maintain communications on all new developments. Any emergency vehicles, such as ambulances or fire engines, are given way to as soon as possible.

Passenger cars are given an opportunity to overtake every fifteen minutes or so, if possible. This is organized by pulling over on the opposing lane and guiding the trailing cars through.

A 7-metre tall rod is mounted on the nose of the leading pilot vehicle. It measures the clearance under any power or telephone lines crossing the road – typically about five metres.

When a low-lying line is detected, the pilot vehicle orders the convoy to slow down. Each combination navigates the line at a slow speed, all the while following the instructions of the escort personnel.

On top of each home there are plastic line guides that guide the line over the top of the transport, as the name suggests. Whenever a line gets stuck, the escorts lift it using special rods. In a particularly tricky situation, lifting equipment and the power company can be called to the scene.

The escort personnel have their hands full at all times. The pilot car needs to remove all traffic signs located at intersections or driving lines, and the last two vehicles take turns in putting them back up. Some intersections require taking down traffic lights and lampposts.

They have been on the move for two nights now. The first leg saw the tightest and most challenging spots. They had to cross a railroad, which involved stopping all train traffic. A number of lines and birch-lined streets were navigated, narrow city streets negotiated, low bridges bypassed and traffic lights taken down.

The rest of the way was supposed to be relatively straightforward. But as Penttinen remarks, the unexpected is what makes special transports special, and no two working days are the same.

At an underpass too low to drive through, the homes are lifted from the flatbed on to a transport pad and winched over the bridge along a track built from railroad rails. On the other side, the homes are lowered back on the flatbed.

The work commences early afternoon, and Eetu’s is the last truck to navigate the bridge as the sun sets. The destination is just three kilometres away. Despite the extra delay, the delivery is on schedule, and installation can get under way in the morning.