210 tonnes of luxury on the move

Catwalk, one of the largest yachts ever presented in a hall at a trade fair, was recently transported on vehicles produced by the Pfedelbach, Germany-based special vehicle manufacturer, Scheuerle. It was a short but demanding journey. This impressive example of marine engineering was one of the star exhibits at Boot Düsseldorf 2006, a showcase for the international boat and water sports industry, and attracted strong interest from the large number of visitors.

At a location where luxury yachts of this category are rarely seen, the 210 tonne, 41 m long and 8 m wide yacht, Catwalk, could recently be found on view at unusual mooring facilities – on the River Rhine, near the halls of the Düsseldorf fairground. In reaching the final destination, however, the ship did not actually travel on the water. At its production site, a shipyard in the town of Saale on the River Danube, the yacht was loaded on to a specially designed pontoon. A transportation cradle, which was used at the same time as a mounting construction for the subsequent road transport phase, ensured that the yacht was firmly secured to the pontoon. The journey on the Danube, Main and Rhine rivers to Düsseldorf, took around three weeks.

With a Scheuerle heavy load combination, using modular platform trailers from the Inter Combi series, a team from international haulage company, Schenker, then assumed responsibility for the valuable freight. The heavy duty transporter was driven under the transportation cradle which was then raised and moved to the final driving position by means of the on-board hydraulic equipment.

The destination for the transport was Hall 6 at the Düsseldorf exhibition centre, a distance of around one kilometre. On 144 wheels, the heavy load combination had to negotiate at the end an upward gradient of 10.4%. The yacht, with its relatively high load centre, was safely moved to its designated position. Once there, the ship was gently lowered on to its mounting construction. Complete with additional superstructure elements, such as hardtop and radar mast, the ship has an overall height of almost 17 m.