Schmidbauer claims German lifting and transportation records
19 August 2021German oil refinery Bayernoil, which supplies oil to Bavaria and northern Austria, commissioned Munich-headquartered heavy lift and transport specialist Schmidbauer to transport two heavy reactors weighing 660 and 600 tonnes respectively. With ancillary equipment, the total on-road weight for each reactor was 880 tonnes. In successfully moving the reactors Schmid-bauer claims the record for the heaviest road transport in Germany. It also believes it carried out Germany's heaviest single lift when unloading them using its Demag CC 8800-1.
The reactors were transported 30 km from the port of Kelheim to Neustadt a. d. Donau in four stages. The number of stages was kept low in order to reduce traffic disruption, said Schmid-bauer.
The size of the reactors added to the challenge; measuring 37 metres long, 8.2 metres high, and 6.6 metres wide they had to pass over bridges, through narrow streets, up steep inclines, and meet strict time windows so as not to cause further disruption.
The contract was awarded to Schmidbauer in December 2020, leaving the company just six months to prepare. This included carrying out advance feasibility studies, geotechnical reports, plus stability and structural analysis investigations. Temporary roads were built, to avoid criti-cal route points, and street furniture removed.
Another time-related change came from the use of Schmidbauer’s Tadano CC 8800-1 crawler crane which was used at both ends of the transportation route for loading/unloading duties. At the start it was lifted the reactors from the vessel they arrived on and set them onto two self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs). The crane’s crew then had just a few days to disman-tle it, transport it to the end of the route, and rebuild it in order to unload the reactors and set them in position.
To transport the reactors Schmidbauer used two self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs), each with 2 x 22 axle lines and 176 tyres. The four transport stages took place back-to-back around the clock and were manned by driving personnel, project escorts, as well as security – who were tasked with keeping onlookers from getting too close.
Despite Schmidbauer’s detailed planning, a further challenge out of its control came in the form of heavy rain at the start of the first stage. This caused only minor delays, though, said Schmidbauer. If the bad weather had continued onto the second stage it could have caused traction problems ascending eight degrees incline but fortunately the rain stopped before then, Schmidbauer added.
When the reactors arrived at their destination, the Demag CC 8800-1 carried out what Schmid-bauer believes is Germany’s heaviest single lift, lifting 700 tonnes at a radius of 26 metres. A Demag CC 2800-1 was used a tracking crane.
"The fact that we managed to do all this and complete the high-performance transport so smoothly and quickly thrills the whole team,” said Stefan Schmidbauer, managing director of the Schmidbauer Group and project manager for this job. “We are very proud and hope to set an even bigger record soon. A big thank you to everyone who helped with this extraordinary project!"
