EDA member SENNEBOGEN has highlighted an unusual transport project involving a used SENNEBOGEN 895 E material handler. Weighing 420 tonnes and standing more than 20 metres high, the machine was transported fully assembled from Tuzla to İskenderun in Turkey.
The transport was organised by freight agency Partner Maritime Services. Rather than dismantling the machine and transporting its components using around 18 heavy-duty trucks, the company developed a solution to move the 895 E as a complete unit on a pontoon.
At the Port of Tuzla, the machine drove onto a 60-metre-long and 19-metre-wide pontoon via a RoRo ramp. After being secured, it was towed by tugboat across the Sea of Marmara and the Mediterranean Sea. The journey covered approximately 930 nautical miles and took ten days.
The main challenge came at the destination. The quay in İskenderun was more than 5.40 metres above the water, while the pontoon could compensate for only around three metres of height difference. A separate floating dock was therefore used. Through controlled ballasting operations, the dock and pontoon were raised until the machine could drive onto the quay.
The 895 E then continued by land to its new operator, Tosyali, where it joins a SENNEBOGEN fleet of 41 material handlers.