COSCO transshipped 126-tonne plant section at HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort

Jun 7, 2017: COSCO Shipping Lines has loaded a 126-tonne plant section on to the 14,000-TEU containership 'CSCL Jupiter' in Shanghai in April. On June 1, 2017, 37 days later, this unusually heavy unit was transshipped at HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort. Planning and execution of this shipment were an extremely testing and complex challenge.

The rotary boiler, 24 meters in length, with a diameter of 4.40 meters and weighing tonnes, will be used in the food industry for processing grains and oilseeds. It was transferred by HHLA's Hamburg-based floating cranes III and IV directly into an inland waterway craft that is taking the vulnerable cargo along the Elbe to Melnik. From there it will cover at least 300 kilometres by road to its final destination in Olomouc, Czechia.

The special challenge here was that on account of its centre of gravity, the two HHLA floating cranes had to operate in tandem to lift the rotary boiler from the hold, where it was secured on a total of eleven 40-feet flat-racks. For that, they first had to secure themselves together on the towering side of the 366-metre-long containership. The cargo was then lifted out and lowered on to the waiting inland waterway craft.

Thomas Lütje, sales director for Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG, said, "This transhipment underlines the flexibility and capacity of HHLA container terminals. Our facilities are not only supremely efficient specialists in handling containers but also offer impressive solutions for transshipping heavy-lifts."

In African region COSCO Africa subsidiary of COSCO group and Cosren Shipping Agency, a joint venture between COSCO Africa and Rennies Ships Agency has been a player in the general cargo business for around ten years.

Its special traffic/projects department looks exclusively after break-bulk cargoes. This year alone, this dedicated COSCO department has handled 80 especially heavy and/or out-of-gauge shipments via ports in the North Range, 70 of these in Hamburg.

Dennis Von Gogh of COSCO's special traffic team in Hamburg said, "Despite all our experience, handling this rotary boiler was something special. We had just six weeks to prepare for this load, but its weight and dimensions meant that it was by no means an everyday job."

In planning, COSCO's project cargo specialists conducted full calculations on a great diversity of routes and handling options.