Felbermayr Transports Two 90t Boilers by Road, Canal, River and Road

In cooperation with Felbermayr Austria, Felbermayr’s Nuremberg branch handled special transport of two boilers, each 4.4m tall and weighing 90t. The transport route stretched from Gunzenhausen in Middle Franconia by road through to the German port of Roth,then by inland waterway to the Austrian port of  Linz and finally by road to Wels. The transport took place in October of this year.

“Planning and performance of special transport is part of our daily business, but it is always exciting when contracts are handled with short preparation time and varying transport modes together with other Felbermayr entities,” commented Matthias Pichl, project manager and branch manager of Felbermayr Nuremberg.

Transport with a five-metre height and a 150-ton total weight on the narrow streets of Franconian towns was no everyday feat.

Transport from Gunzenhausen in Middle Franconia to the Wels Strom heating plant in Wels led through the ports of Roth and Linz. Transport from Gunzenhausen to Roth was done on an 11-axle semi-low-loading truck with a total 5.35m transport height and 150 tons of total weight. A 10-axle semi-low-loader was added for the second boiler. Once arriving at the port of Roth, the loads switched carriers — the two boilers were moved with a 400t mobile crane from the low loaders to an inland ship. Transport further on the Main-Donau-Kanal and the Donau River to Linz took about four days. Carriers were switched again at the port of Linz. The move from the inland ship to two 12-axle vessel beds with heavy-duty tractors was handled by a gantry crane.

After arrival at the final destination — the district heating plant in Wels — for space reasons, unloading was done in front of the heating plant.

Then the two boilers were transported to their destination — the district heating plant in Wels. For reasons of space, unloading was done at the final location in front of the heating plant by a Felbermayr mobile crane with a 500t maximum load capacity. The boilers were turned 90 degrees and loaded onto an 8-axle self-propelled unit. This allowed the containers to be transported right to the front of the boiler house. A lifting frame did the unloading from the self-propelled unit to the shift track. “That and final placement of the foundation in the boiler house were done by employees of the heavy installation department at the Linz branch,” adds Pichl.

A Felbermayr mobile crane with a maximum load capacity of 500 tons was used for unloading

Originally, the entire transport was supposed to be done on the road. Due to deadline changes and construction, however, a multi-mode solution had to be worked out. “Multi-mode transport — with changes between highway and water transport — is one of the Felbermayr group’s strengths. In this case, it was the key to a job successfully done,” explains Pichl.

For unloading, the boilers were turned 90 degrees and then loaded onto an 8-axle self-propelled unit. This allowed the containers to be transported right to the front of the boiler house. A lifting frame did the unloading from the self-propelled unit to the shift track.

Transport with a five-metre height and a 150-ton total weight on the narrow streets of Franconian towns was no everyday feat when it came to organization and driver skills.

No less challenging was setting the foundation: “Precise planning by the Linz branch yielded an optimal solution for unloading and heavy installation, despite the tight spaces at the destination,” Pichl says.

Source Felbermayr