Forwarder Deployed Trailers, Barges and Heavy-Lift Vessel to Transport 225-Tonne Units
deugro has deployed trailers, barges and a multi-purpose vessel to deliver four hulking LNG storage tanks from a manufacturing yard in Decin in the Czech Republic to a construction site in the Caribbean Sea.
The challenge of moving the 225-tonne units began with a three-kilometre road haul to the Port of Rozbelesy on the Elbe River using two prime movers and a 22-axle hydraulic platform trailer configuration separated into two 11-axle units, each equipped with a turntable.
The route through Decin’s city centre, closed off by traffic police, called for streetlamps and other infrastructure to be dismantled and overhead wires to be lifted to allow the loaded trailer convoy to pass underneath.
After a delay at Rozbelesy caused by low water levels, the tanks were lifted from the trailers and secured onto barges, before being shipped some 536 kilometres downstream to a terminal at the Port of Hamburg, a journey that took eight days to complete.
“The overall timing for the crane and barge arrangements was crucial to ensuring a smooth and final barge loading operation,” said Jens Klie, vice president of deugro USA.
“Managing the timing of the barge arrivals in Hamburg with the arrival of the US-flagged, multi-purpose heavy-lift vessel in Hamburg in order to avoid barge and or vessel detention was equally challenging.”
At Hamburg, the components were lifted directly from the barges and loaded onto the multi-purpose vessel using its on-board cranes. This leg of the project was overseen by dteq Transport Engineering Solutions, part of the deugro group.
Two of the tanks, which measured nearly 50 metres in length, were loaded under deck, with the other two positioned on the weather deck. After a two-day loading operation, the vessel set sail for a 17-day voyage to the construction site in the Caribbean.
The entire operation was carried out in close collaboration between deugro’s offices in the US, the Czech Republic and Germany.
“Despite adverse weather conditions, the flexibility, detailed timing and the close cooperation and communication between deugro, the client, dteq and all subcontractors led this project to a successful conclusion,” Klie said.
Check out a video of the move:
PHOTO MAIN: Loading the tanks at the Port of Rozbelesy. CREDIT: deugro
PHOTO INSERT: Loading the tanks from barges at the Port of Hamburg. CREDIT: deugro
