Wagenborg Nedlift’s Transformer Transport Team in Germany

With the increasing demand for electricity and the increasing amount of sustainable electricity being generated the need to link the supply to the demand is resulting in the expansion of the distribution network across the whole of Europe.

The network is connected through heavy transformers, often situated in remote locations which in turn results in great challenges for transformer transport teams from companies such as Wagenborg Nedlift.

In northern Germany, the Wagenborg Nedlift team transported a transformer weighing no less than 395t to its final destination.

With the help of the ‘Enak’, a large floating sheerleg, this colossus was lifted on to SPMTs waiting at the ferry pier in Kleinensiel. Then the transport combination had to ‘briefly’ tackle a slope of no less than 9% to get on top of the dike. Truly not a simple operation for either the equipment or the operator!

The transformer was unloaded from the SPMTs by hydraulic gantries and lowered onto its foundations on the substation site.

Over 100 kilometres away, two large mobile cranes were used to unload six transformers, each weighing 320t, from a barge.

Each transformer was loaded onto a 14-axle conventional trailer via a tandem lift by the powerful 700t and 800t Liebherr cranes. The transport combination then temporarily ‘parked’ the transformers a short distance away.

The transformers then travel to their final destination by train. This is achieved by using a special two-part heavy-duty train frame, with the transformer suspended between the two sections. For this purpose, Wagenborg Nedlift’s team prepares each transformer on the track with a cube jack lift systom.

Photograph courtesy of Kübler Heavy Rail GmbH

Over the next few weeks, the special rail vehicle will transport the transformers one by one to their destination. Multimodal transport at its best!

Source Wagenborg Nedlift