Many ways lead to Herne from Universal Transport

A modern gas and steam power plant is currently being built in the North Rhine-Westphalian town of Herne. As the project forwarding agent, Züst & Bachmeier Project GmbH is responsible for organizing the entire transport for numerous parts up to the arrival at its destination. Preparations for the major project began in June 2020. The heavy-duty transports should be completed by March 2021, but “standard” transports by sea freight and truck will still carry on for a few weeks after that.

The cargo items come from China, Indonesia, Turkey, and all over Europe and vary widely in size and weight. In addition to several hundred standard transports and “smaller” loads weighing up to 100 tons, there are also real heavyweights. A generator, a transformer, and a gas turbine each weighing around 450 tons. The range of equipment used is accordingly versatile, including telescopic semi-trailers, extendable semi-low loaders, trailers up to 33 meters long or a 20-axle heavy-duty set, type THP, with a total transport length of over 45 meters. Universal Transport Group can cover most of the road transports with its own extensive fleet. Any additional equipment required are sourced from long-term business partners, such as a brand new 1000 tonne crawler crane LR11000 or an 18-axle 4-file SPMT from Felbermayr Transport- und Hebetechnik for example .

Five heavy cargo vessels and 28 inland vessels were used for the transport by sea and inland waterways.

The biggest challenge of the job, however, was the last mile. During the transport route in Herne, for example, a bridge over a stream had to be reinforced to guarantee the necessary load-bearing capacity. However, the bridge is located directly behind a crossing,  which service we could not interrupt. Therefore, a solution had to be designed for the limited space available. This construction then had to be erected and dismantled each time for 21 nights of this transport.

“The project management was in the hands of a small team from Züst & Bachmeier Project in Nuremberg. In the end, several hundred helping hands are involved in the success of such a project, from port workers to ship crews, truck drivers, engineering offices, construction companies, crane personnel and, finally, the contacts at our customer ”, emphasizes Stefan Franzkowiak, project manager at Züst & Bachmeier Project.