The challenge
A client of ours, who is active within the transport & logistics sector, asked our support for the movement of 4 oversized Private Yachts. These Yachts needed to be moved from Dordrecht (NL) to the Boot 2020 Exhibition site in Düsseldorf (D).Boot 2020 is a popular exhibition which is visited by more than 250,000 watersports fans from 106 countries. The largest of the 4 Yachts was approximately 18 meter long and had a weight of 63 ton.
Our solution
Because of the size of the Yachts (especially the height) the best way to move them is by inland shipping. In this case our customer is a specialist in maritime & shipping and arranged the movement by water. For movement of the Yachts two 7-axle semi low-loaders and two 4-axle semi low-loaders were used. These trailers, without the load on it, were first secured to a pontoon in Dordrecht (NL). A pontoon is a flattish boat that relies on floats to remain floatable (stable). The pontoon was pulled by a ship (by inland shipping) and was brought to Rotterdam (NL).
In Rotterdam the Yachts were loaded on the trailers and fastened to the trailers. This way a stable situation was created for further transit. From here the pontoon was pulled by a ship and moved all the way to Düsseldorf in Germany, very close to the Exhibition site. There the Yachts had to be moved a small distance by road to their final (exhibition-) location.
Results
The transports went smoothly. A lot of spectators enjoyed the way the oversized Yachts were transported by road. Nice pictures were made (see pictures on the right).