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A 139 tonne high pressure stripper has been transported from Ternitz, Austria, to Antwerp using a combination of heavy road transport and inland shipping, highlighting the role of multimodal routing for oversized industrial cargo.
The almost 14 metre long unit left Ternitz in Lower Austria at the beginning of August and travelled by road to Linz, where it was transferred for the waterborne leg of its journey.
232 t road combination handles first leg
The road movement required a four axle tractor and a 16 axle THP modular trailer. With the cargo loaded, the complete transport measured 33.50 metres long, 3.60 metres wide and 4.50 metres high.
Gross combination weight reached 232 tonnes, meaning the transport equipment, tractor and associated configuration accounted for about 93 tonnes in addition to the 139 tonne cargo.
The dimensions illustrate why the road section was limited to the connection between the manufacturing location and an inland waterway loading point. For project cargo of this weight, moving hundreds of kilometres entirely by road can substantially increase permitting requirements, route preparation and infrastructure constraints.
Ternitz is home to Schoeller Bleckmann Nitec, part of Christof Group, which manufactures high pressure equipment for the fertilizer and petrochemical industries. Its product range includes high pressure strippers as well as reactors, scrubbers and condensers.
Linz provides gateway to inland waterways
Once the stripper reached Linz, it was prepared for the next stage and loaded aboard an inland waterway vessel for transportation towards Antwerp.
The routing effectively turned Linz into the interface between two very different transport systems. The heavy haul combination provided access from the production site, while inland shipping handled the longer international section towards Belgium.
For exceptionally heavy industrial components, that transfer can remove much of the long distance burden from European roads while allowing manufacturers located inland to connect with major seaports.
Antwerp provides onward connections for breakbulk and project cargo moving to industrial destinations worldwide. High pressure equipment manufactured in Austria has previously moved through the Belgian port for international projects, making the Danube and European inland waterway network an established option for such cargo flows.
The latest movement demonstrates how a 139 tonne component can be handled as one continuous logistics operation even when the transport mode changes substantially along the route.
