Project Freight Forwarding Contract To China Nears Completion

GERMANY – CHINA - Rickmers-Linie and Kühne & Nagel cooperated in moving the latest stage of a contract to ship sixteen rail mounted cranes for the Chinese Ministry of Railways. Due to arrive at Xingang on the 24th November the three rail-mounted cranes manufactured by Kirow AG left the Wallmann terminal in Hamburg, which specialises in the handling of out-of-gauge, heavy lift and project cargo, at the end of September aboard the Rickmers Jakarta.

Each railway crane has a length of 19.5m and weighs 167 tonnes. They can be combined to form a block train. Rated at 160 tonnes, these cranes are even able to move whilst under load. The whole project, due to finish this month, will have seen 16 railway cranes shipped to China between December 2009 and November 2010, some of which are today being used in Tibet, under extreme conditions such as temperatures of minus 40 degrees Celsius and altitudes of around 5,000 metres.

Rickmers Jakarta is one of nine identical ships which were phased into service between 2002 and 2004. Operating in Rickmers-Linie’s eastbound Round-the-World Pearl String service, these vessels connect the world’s major industrial centres. The service offers fortnightly sailings from Hamburg, Antwerp and Genoa to Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and China. From there, the ships sail via Japan and South Korea to North America. In New Orleans, Houston and Philadelphia, they load cargo for both Europe and Asia.

Photo: Craning a Crane. One of the giant rail cranes is lowered aboard.