Kübler Spedition GmbH, Germany, was commissioned to carry a 32-meter-long rotary cooler from the German town of Stassfurt to the Port of Hamburg.

The cooler has a weight of 190 tons and 4.50 m in diameter. Due to the size and weight, it was not possible to bring this cargo directly by road to Hamburg and it was necessary to find a suitable area at the river Elbe, where the transhipment from truck to barge had to be performed by using mobile cranes.

After a successful examination of the track, the vehicle was then defined, a 22-axle trailer type Scheuerle InterCombi, and transport permits incl requested approval of required structural analyzes were organized.

Due to the extreme cold weather in early February, when the transport would have to take place, the River Elbe was no longer navigable due to ice, and the transport had to be postponed for 3 weeks until the river was declared ice free.

The transport with the total dimension of 52 x 4.50 x 5.50 m and 320 tons started in the end of February. A Mercedes Titan 4160 8 x 6 was used as pull truck and a Titan Z 32. 500 supported the transport as a push truck. Due to the size of this cargo and the route course the transport was also accompanied with two supporting escort cars for a smooth transport.

Next morning the cooler was moved from truck into the barge by a LR1400 crane and a 500 tons mobile crane.

In Hamburg, the barge arrived side by side the waiting ocean vessel for the oncarriage to Bahrain being its final destination.

Source: Cargo Equipment Experts, CEE