The challenge of heavy transport

A PARTICULARLY DEMANDING TASK

Due to its geographical location in the middle of Europe, Germany is known to be an important logistics hub and a transit country with a corresponding volume of traffic. For this reason, on typical days, between 1.2 and 1.4 million trucks (= over 3.5 tons) drive on the local freeways alone within 24 hours.

The majority of these journeys involve goods that are transported on typical flatbeds, trailers or semi-trailers and moved by standard tractor units. With the exception of some very narrow village roads and passages that are too low, the drivers hardly have to pay attention to anything special and can therefore operate alone – routine work.

The situation is completely different, however, when the order is for heavy-duty transportation. Here, each new journey is often associated with new, individual challenges and requirements.

 

HEAVY TRANSPORT: UMBRELLA TERM WITH SEVERAL DEFINITIONS

However, the term heavy transport is not always unambiguous, as “heavy” primarily implies an exceptional situation in terms of weight or load. However, this category also includes transportation tasks in which other factors are oversized.

These transports generally exceed certain requirements of the Road Traffic Licensing Regulations (StVZO). This means that

• The trailer or load exceeds a permissible total width of 2.55 meters

and/or

• the total weight exceeds the maximum permissible value of 40 or 44 tons depending on the type of trailer

and/or

• the trailer or load exceeds the maximum permitted height of 4.00 meters

and/or

• the trailer or the load exceeds the conventional maximum length of a trailer of 18.75 meters.

This means that at some point the transport exceeds the regular requirements of the StVZO. In fact, there are four possible legal constellations in this respect and just as many legally correct terms:

1. Large-capacity and heavy-duty transport: high weight, large dimensions
2. Large dream transport: low weight, large dimensions
3. Heavy transport: high weight, small dimensions
4. Long transport: load length > 20 meters

In view of the variety of transports, the Swiss general and legal term is much more catchy. There, the term “exceptional transportation” is generally used.

This is generally accompanied by an obligation to apply for a special permit from the authorities. Any violation of the StVZO therefore carries the risk of overloading and damage of various kinds. Transport companies have two possible options here:

• An individual permit: This is only valid until the end of the month following the application. However, extensive exceptions are possible with regard to the transport weight and dimensions.
• A permanent permit: This is issued for individual transport vehicles and is valid for longer. However, the transport is subject to weight and dimension limits for the combination of trailer and load: Maximum length 23 meters, width 3 meters, height 4 meters, maximum weight 41.8 tons.

This only applies to permits within Germany. If the transport in question crosses national borders even within the united Europe, further permits are required. In addition to the legal aspects, however, there are other special features.

 

PERSONNEL CHALLENGES

Every truck driver with a CE driving license is permitted to drive combinations that are within the StVZO regulations. This would also be theoretically possible for heavy and oversized transports. However, many companies only employ trained professional drivers who have also acquired additional qualifications for particularly heavy/bulky loads.

Last but not least, the often considerable value of the load and the costs of possible damage to it, the trailer or the surrounding area must be considered. Depending on the type of transport, other auxiliary equipment may also be used, such as so-called self-propelled vehicles – multi-wheeled, self-propelled heavy-duty platforms that are operated remotely by other specialists (in close cooperation with the driver of the tractor unit).

The general shortage of skilled truck drivers is already considerable; it is naturally even greater for specialists. In addition, driving difficulties, which often require a great deal of experience, must be taken into account. Special transports require the utmost attention from all those involved. In addition, the nature of the loads means that the combinations are nowhere near as easy to steer as conventional trucks.

Depending on the type of order, the permits may also be subject to the condition that escort vehicles are used for security purposes. This generally requires additional, trained and experienced personnel. These vehicles are divided into

• with so-called variable message signs (i.e. changeable message signs attached to the rear of the vehicle for following traffic; code: BF3) and
• without these variable message signs, code: BF2.

Due to the special responsibility for following traffic , BF3 drivers require a special authorization. This is acquired through a basic course and must be renewed every two years through one-day refresher courses.

TIME RESTRICTIONS

In terms of dimensions in particular, special transports usually cause an obstruction for other road users. In order to keep these effects to a minimum, it is often not possible to carry out the journeys at typical peak times.

Similar to the two different exemptions, there are therefore two possible variants here. These are defined in the catalog of guidelines for large and heavy transports (RGST catalog):

• Provided that the width of the trailer and load does not exceed 3.2 meters, transport may only take place on weekdays between (approximately) 09:00 and 15:00 This is intended to avoid disruption to the morning and late afternoon rush hour traffic.
• If the dimensions go beyond this, the journey is usually only carried out during the night and early morning hours between 22:00 and 06:00.

Even if the transport can be carried out “in one go” due to the distance, this poses personnel challenges. It becomes even more complicated if the distance is too great to carry out the transport within this time window. Suitable stages then have to be planned – including sufficiently large rest areas for breaks.

PLANNING CHALLENGES

In conventional truck transportation, planning is usually simple: the fastest and most fuel-efficient route possible must be found. Dispatchers can rely on powerful software for this. For many special transports, however, even the applications for permits are extremely lengthy and cause a lot of work. One example of many: Approximately 80 different permits are required to transport the parts of a wind turbine to the construction site.

In addition, both the permits and the practical circumstances of transportation often do not allow a simple solution by direct route. This is especially true off the highways: Long transports, for example, are far from being able to negotiate all bends without problems. Especially if the load protrudes far beyond the end of the trailer – for example when transporting the rotor blades of a wind turbine. The same applies to very wide and high loads.

In this case, many roads that are suitable for regular transport combinations become insurmountable obstacles. Road signs or traffic lights can be temporarily dismantled. However, if houses or bridges are involved, a different route often has to be found when even literally “millimeter work” when driving is no longer enough. In addition, each individual bridge has a maximum load-bearing weight. Even if it were the ideal route, it sometimes cannot be used for heavy transports for structural reasons.

Depending on the weight and dimensions of the transport, planning therefore often takes many busy weeks – with the requirements increasing with the complexity of the load:

• Numerous relevant data must be recorded precisely for the approvals.
• The route itself must be planned in theory and checked in practice by advance teams to ensure that it is actually suitable – even digital maps are often not sufficiently up-to-date.
• Further coordination with the responsible approving authorities is often required. Sometimes these require changes to the submitted plan, which can extend to the preparation of a completely new preliminary plan.

Of course, digitalization has made many things much easier. However, due to the massive expansion of electricity pylons and wind turbines and the general construction boom, significantly more special transports are currently required overall. Experience shows that, despite detailed planning, unexpected hurdles can still arise in practice.

LOADING CHALLENGES

While loading and unloading is quite simple for many goods, standardized processes cannot usually be used for heavy and special transports. Depending on the load, special trailers are often required – from extendable telescopic trailers to particularly low-lying low beds and special constructions with special receptacles for rotor blades, for example.

Special vehicles or machines are often required for loading and unloading. There are also special requirements for load securing. The material for this must be suitable for the corresponding dimensions and weights.

Every step of the loading process is often a challenge, and there are often different variables for each job:

• When transporting machines in particular, it is often necessary to first transport these systems out of often cramped factory halls. In view of the sometimes dozens of tons of heavy weights and/or extremely bulky dimensions, this is a special transport in itself.
• Many company premises and their buildings are often a further challenge. Many company premises are designed for standard truck weights, but can be overloaded by the often significantly heavier machines (and the no less heavy special vehicles during transportation).
• Many machines are individual one-offs. Therefore, there are often no detailed empirical values for loading and correct lashing. This requires personnel who can draw on existing experience and make the right decisions.

With the help of special forklifts or powerful cranes, the longer, wider, higher or heavier loads can be loaded at the end. For particularly large loads, a structural engineer is sometimes on site to calculate the optimum placement and weight distribution in advance and monitor and control the loading accordingly.

Large, heavy and long-distance transports are indeed a daily business for specialized companies like Marcus Transport. Nevertheless, despite all our experience, there are hardly any orders that are 1:1 identical to previous ones. Every transport order in this business is always a new challenge – but one that is always brought to a successful conclusion, and not just by the skilled and experienced teams.

Image sources:

Image 1: stock.adobe.com © Andreas Gruhl

Image 2: stock.adobe.com © Mixage

Image 3: stock.adobe.com © Ronald Rampsch

Image 4: stock.adobe.com © Andreas Gruhl

Image 5: stock.adobe.com © Andreas Gruhl

Image 6: stock.adobe.com © sergey