Windpark, part 1

The challenge

Wind transport: 65 x 700 kilometres

The transport of five new wind turbines - destined for the Ivan Sedlo wind farm in Bosnia and Herzegovina - was a very special project for Prangl. After all, all the components were to be unloaded in the port of Zadar and then transported a full 700 kilometres to the installation site in Ivan Sedlo.

Our solution

Unloading

Unloading from the ship was carried out with the help of two telescopic cranes, weighing 130 and 250 tonnes. The heaviest components weighed in at 65 tonnes, while the longest were the rotor blades at 72 metres. Prangl's heavy-duty transporters were waiting at the harbour to pick up their cargo: Depending on the load, 5-axle tractor units or 4-axle tractor units were fitted with different special equipment. For example, 9-axle semi-trailers, modular trailers, rotor blade trailers, tower adapters and telescopic bucket trailers were used.

Heavy duty transportation

In view of the long distance (Zadar harbour - Zagreb - Svilaj border crossing - Zenica - Sarajevo) and the considerable transport dimensions, the journeys were certainly not child's play. The rotor blade transporters measured 82.00 x 4.50 x 4.50 metres and weighed 80 tonnes. The transporters with the heaviest tower sections were 55.00 x 4.50 x 4.55 metres and weighed 130 tonnes. At 26.50 x 3.50 x 4.50 metres and 130 tonnes, the transporters with the nacelles were shorter, but just as wide as the others. 200 of the total 700 kilometres had to be covered on narrow, local roads.

Transport time: four nights

Precautions also had to be taken on the motorway in Croatia to ensure safe transport. In two places there was a total closure and a diversion to the opposite carriageway. In Bosnia, roadworks were necessary in order to be able to use the route. In total, there were 13 transports per turbine to get all the components to their destination. Each transport train was on the road for a total of four nights - two in Croatia and two in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, the heavy goods vehicles were unable to deliver their loads directly to the construction site due to gradients of up to 20 percent at the end of the route.

Self propelled heavy load modules

For this reason, a transshipment point with storage facilities was set up at the foot of the mountain so that the wind turbine components could be transferred to suitable vehicles using two mobile telescopic cranes (110 and 130 tonnes): The rotor blades on self-propelled heavy-load modules with the special blade transport device, the tower sections on 4-axle tractor units with their own modular trailers. After a highly concentrated eight-kilometre drive up the mountain, all the parts were unloaded one by one using a 160-tonne and a 250-tonne mobile crane.