When the engineering company Rockfin develops a compressor, it can quickly weigh over 100 tonnes. The package that Haeger & Schmidt Logistics (HSL) had to transport from the Polish Rockfin plant in Zukowo near Gdansk to the engineering company MAN Energy Solutions SE in Oberhausen for the one-year test run weighed 106.5 tonnes. The complex project comprised four transport sections, two of which ran on the waterway. “The cornerstones for the successful and on-time implementation are sophisticated and flexible transport planning and reliable partners, such as the heavy-lift specialist Best Logistics, in which HSL holds a 40 per cent stake. Best Logistics took over the transport from the factory in Poland to the MAN jetty in Oberhausen,” explains Fabian Bartels from HSL’s Projects Division. He is particularly pleased that the estimated transit time of 14 days was adhered to despite many interfaces and that the heavy-lift collo could be delivered on time on 02.12.2020.
The four transport sections of the project
1. Zukowo – Gdansk – At the Rockfin factory in Zukowo, the compressor was loaded onto a low-loader (4 + 14 axles) with hydraulic axle compensation and transported 20 km to Gdansk by night transport, which required a permit. Actually, a direct heavy goods vehicle transport to Szczecin was initially intended, but the permit for this was not granted. HSL/Best Logistics rescheduled and inserted the following transport section in between.
2. Danzig – Stettin: A floating crane was hired in the port of Gdansk to lift the package from the low loader into the chartered coaster Saturn. One photo shows the preparation of the lift with the floating crane in Gdansk. The picture shows the professional load securing for the sea transport. The journey across the Baltic Sea and the Szczecin Lagoon to the city of the same name took two days.
3 Szczecin – Oberhausen: To avoid intermediate storage on land, the coaster Saturn and the barge Pati lay side by side. The transhipment took place directly with a stationary crane. This was followed by a 7-day transport via the Oder, Mittelland Canal, Dortmund-Ems Canal, Wesel-Datteln Canal, Rhine and Rhine-Herne Canal, among others, to MAN’s own berth in Oberhausen
4. Inside Oberhausen: At MAN’s own berth in Oberhausen, unloading takes place with two mobile cranes. The compressor was transported the last few kilometres to the MAN Energy Solutions SE plant by overnight truck transport, where test runs will now be carried out with the compressor for a year.
