Steel structures

Steel structures

We have been providing service in steel structures logistics for years. We know very well that Poland is one of the most important steel structures suppliers to Scandinavia. It is obvious that success of your business means increased demand for logistics service. Specificity of steel structures demands in most cases oversize load transport or intermodal freight transport including ferry crossings.

Which factors must be considered when choosing your logistics operator:

  • Plan your transport already at a tender stage

Apart from designing and preparing to production it is also worthwhile considering your transport. Consultancy and close cooperation with manufacturers at a planning stage is a general standard of oversize freight logistics, especially in the infastructure sector. Engaging transportation experts at a tender stage permits manufacturers to take into account a possible division of the strucutre long before a production process starts. This means that the future transportation process will be optimized, and - most importantly to the manufacturer - their business position will be strenghtened and this often enables them to win the tender.

  • Suitable type and means of transport

Full specification of the load is the principle of selecting a proper and suitable means of transport. Special attention must be paid to the accuracy of engineering drawings and the data they contain. Omission of some seemingly unimportant details like no information on points of support or gravity centres may not only hinder but even make the transport impossible. Small details omitted repeatedly may cause a nasty surprise.

  • Ferry crossing – challenge to the best

Arranging for a ferry crossing requires a close cooperation with ship owners within individual ferry shipments, ramp and gate expertise, required deck surface or adapting the schedule of the vessel to oversize freight.

  • Creative and innovative approach

Sometimes an innovative and non-standard approach helps to avoid unnecessary costs. And it is not only the question of technological innovations or sophisticated e-systems. For instance, transportation of heavy steel plates 5 m wide used in bridge construction requires oversize transport. Considerable width of the cargo makes it sometimes necessary to disassemble the road infrastructure and may narrow down the possibilities of ferry crossings. This in turn, increases costs and extends completion time, whereas it is enough to use specially designed steel racks in order to decrease the width of the whole transport from 5 to 3,7 m. Thus one can cover the planned route without disassembling the road infrastructure.

 

 

Transport Case

Oversize cargo

Fully-assembled bicycle-pedestrian footbridge installed in the Swedish town of Malmö.

Measurements

  • length: 33 m,

  • width: 6,5 m

  • weight: 48 t.

Route

Gdynia, Poland –> Malmö, Sweden

Distance covered 700 km.

  • 480 km Gdynia – Świnoujście,

  • 180 km across the see (Świnoujście – Trelleborg ferry),

  • 36 km Trelleborg – Malmö.

Fleet designated for completion of this assignment

  • Volvo FH16 6x4, 660 hp and total weight up to 120 t.

  • 6-axle Nooteboom trailer equipped with extended platform and hydropneumatic suspension and hydraulically steered wheels. It can be extended up to 42 m, but in this case it was 16m.

Total length of the whole truck unit (including the cargo) - 39 m, and total weight - 84 t.

 

Obstacles encountered on the way…

  • A1 toll passages were partly disassembled to allow free cargo passage

  • roundabouts entered with great precision from the left-hand side, toward traffic

  • railway viaduct in Jastrowie (DK 22) – the drive underneath it was slow and with great precision, within centemetres between the load and the top strucutre of the viaduct

  • narrow junctions in smaller towns, remote control of the trailer axles was very helpful

  • harbour at Świnoujście with obstacles of port structures and pillars supporting footbridges, within a hair's breadth in many situations

  • exit from the ferry ramp at Trelleborg - ferry exit at an angle of 90 degrees to the left again required meticulous precision form the driver and pilots

  • drive through the outskirts of Malmö right to the very cntre - many roundabouts to drive through (toward traffic) and junctions (full of traffic islands and traffic lights) which were to be exited at an angle of 90 degrees

  • arranging the truck unit for unloading - entry to the middle of the junction, turn backwards at an angle of 90 degrees and reversing to the unloading point

 

You can watch the most difficult moments and obstacles en route in an over twelve-minute video.

 

You care about optimization of logistics solutions?

Enquire about your shipment

How can we help you?