WW Ocean Ship 230t Gantry Crane

The size of the crane made things logistically difficult – the Out of Gauge (OOG) pieces needed to be shipped as one parcel. Photographs – Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean

Date 15 November 2018

In August 2018, a 230-tonne gantry crane used to lay down rail bridges for the multi-billion-dollar Sky Rail project in Melbourne needed to be shipped to Thailand – where it was to be used for similar above-ground rail projects.

While Australian ports are renowned for their ability to import breakbulk cargo, prepping and exporting the crane for port-to-port transport involved an unusual set of challenges for freight forwarder Port Air Logistics, who worked with WW Ocean to find a solution.

The Port Air Logistics and WW Ocean teams needed to devise a plan that would allow them to pack and ship the 1,200m3 breakbulk project to South East Asia – and arrange a transhipment vessel from Singapore to Thailand along the way.

A unique set of challenges

The size of the crane made things logistically difficult – the Out of Gauge (OOG) pieces needed to be shipped as one parcel. There were other requirements too – underdeck stow was a prerequisite, as were regular fixed sailings out of Melbourne.

WW Ocean Port Captain Bilal Ma employed a tailored transportation solution by using a set of multi-purpose bogies (MPB), a WW Ocean-owned product, to move the 23-metre-long beams from their original location to the vessel and then off again once the vessel reached its final destination.

WW Ocean employed a tailored transportation solution, using a set of multi-purpose bogies (MPB) to move the 23-metre-long beams.

The Multi-Purpose Bogie (MPB) is especially suitable for long, narrow cargo of up to 140 tonnes.

Source Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean