Road, rail and ship transport for Van der Vlist
26 January 2015
Specialist transport company Van der Vlist, based in the Netherlands, helped with the transportation of a 54 tonne excavator from the Netherlands, via Germany and Estonia, to Turkmenistan.
The excavator was transported from the Van der Vlist headquarters in Groot-Ammers, Netherlands, to Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan.
The machine measured 11.28 x 3.45 x 3.59 metres and the journey included a combination of road, rail and shipping transport modes.
For the first section of the journey the excavator was transported by road to Bremerhaven in Northern Germany, on a Nooteboom 4-axle low loader pulled by a 5-axle Volvo FM 480 tractor unit. From the port, the excavator was loaded onto a vessel before being shipped to Paldiski in Estonia.
In addition to the machine, 17 tonnes of additional cargo was also transported.
On arrival in Paldiski, the machine and additional equipment was transferred to the Paldiski rail terminal, inland from the port. Challenges at this stage of the project included dealing with the height of the cargo when loaded on the rail trailer. To reduce the height of the rail trailer, the crawler tracks from the excavator were removed. The parts were secured seperatly for the onward journey to central Asia.
It took 42 days to deliver the excavator. On arrival in Turkmenbashi the machine was re-assembled, ready to start working.
