Projects & Break Bulk

From factory plants to wind turbines – no large-scale transport is impossible.

The Projects & Break Bulk division of Gebrüder Weiss takes on the spectacular business of special transports. No matter the size or weight of the item to be transported – bulky steel components, entire factory plants, yachts or special vehicles – our specialists are up for every challenge.

Gebrüder Weiss not only transports your load anywhere in the world through our global network, in any multi-modal combination consisting of sea or inland waterway vessel, cargo plane, low platform trailer, or rail; we also offer additional services, including feasibility studies, route surveys, packaging, assembly operation, facilitating a turn-key operation.

Our experts are ready to advise and support in every phase of your transport – from the initial planning to implementation – to satisfy your specific requirements and solve potential problems in a target-oriented way.

Your contact person

Michael Ruediger

Project Manager Projects & Break Bulk USA

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Gebrüder Weiss successfully managed the transportation of a 228-ton refinery tower from India to the U.S., addressing the complexities of project cargo logistics with precision. This challenging operation involved meticulous planning, ensuring adherence to safety standards, handling oversized freight efficiently, and a commitment to sustainability throughout the journey. With continuous communication and expert coordination, the project achieved a seamless and damage-free delivery, surpassing client expectations in heavy-lift and out-of-gauge transport.
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The bigger, the better

With our long-term experience and the corresponding know-how, planning and implementation of exceptional – and in particular large-volume – transports are among our core competencies. Here you will find information on a selection of our Break Bulk reference projects: from out of gauge container transportation and Ro-Ro shipments to the use of artificial tween decks and many more.

Lock Gates for the Port of Vienna

The port of Albern in Vienna has received a new lock gate to protect against high water.
Due to its enormous size, the gate was transported in two segments (each measuring 39.9 x 8.3 x 3 meters, weight: 142 tons) from Istanbul (Türkiye) to Vienna. In the Romanian port city of Constanta, the transhipment from the ocean-going vessel to an inland waterway vessel took place.

Transport of a Bridge

In the course of renovation work in the area of the Oslo Opera House and the adjacent Munch Museum, a new pedestrian bridge was installed. a new pedestrian bridge was also installed.
Gebrüder Weiss transported the bridge in one piece from the factory in Romania to the construction site in Oslo. Due to the extreme dimensions of 39 x 6.5 x 3 meters, a floating crane had to be used to transport the bridge through Oslo Bay.

Example of Break Bulk Shipment

Break bulk is the term used to describe goods that, due to their special nature (size, weight) place special requirements on the planning, organization and execution of the transport.
Each transport is unique. In addition to conventional cargo ships, special ships are also used in many cases.

Artificial Tween Deck

For the break bulk transport of a 60 tons heavy crate measuring 8 x 3 x 3.5 metres, a so called artificial tween deck, a steel platform with hardwood flooring to secure the box was used.
The load was transported by ship from Constanta, Romania to Shanghai, China. With this transport method, bulky parts can be loaded onto container ships, which generally have a denser timetable and shorter transit times than comparable conventional cargo ships.

RoRo (Roll on/Roll off) Shipments

RoRo shipments are part of our Projects & Break Bulk service portfolio: via ramps different kinds of loads are driven on and off the ship safely. Some examples of our transports:
Busses that were brought from Shanghai, China to Melbourne, Australia, a 20 tons heavy seaworthy packed machine (12 x 2.6 x 3.3 metres) from Shanghai, China to Rotterdam, Netherlands or 19 tons heavy machine parts, measuring 6.73 x 6.73 x 0.80 m from Bremerhaven, Germany to Fremantle, Australia.

Transport Examples 'Out of Gauge Container'

Our employees have long and proven experience in the area of out of gauge containers - the transport of oversized cargo such as generators, machine parts or bulky vehicles with containers. This way, destinations all across the globe can be reached.

Oversized Road Transports

Gebrüder Weiss owns the necessary expertise and the appropriate network of specialized partners to perform various kinds of special transports on the road throughout Europe and the CIS territories as well.

Anchor Chains and Mooring Pile

1250 meters of anchor chains as well as a 33 m long and 81 tons heavy mooring pile – equipment for a floating offshore oil rig – had to be transported from Bilbao (Spain) to Rotterdam (The Netherlands) urgently. With a specially chartered vessel m/v TOVE, the goods could be collected from two different terminals in Bilbao and then shipped out together.

Africa: Extraordinary Challenge

Five complete cement grinding plants – dismantled into their constituent parts – from Europe to West Africa. Our team mastered this extraordinary challenge for a leading manufacturer of machines for the mining and cement industry. It took nearly a year for all parts from 11 different production plants (in Austria, Germany, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Türkiye, Belgium, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands and Vietnam) to reach their destinations.

Destination Ghana

The follow-up order from one of the leading manufacturers of machines for the mining and cement industry turned out to be a real mammoth task – a complete cement grinding plant destined for Tema in Ghana. The grinding cylinder alone weighed 156 tons. The total order volume amounted to almost 900 standard containers plus a variety of break bulk parts.

Steel Pressure Vessel

70.5 tons was the total weight of the steel pressure vessel that had been transported from Italy via Switzerland to Houston, Texas. The delivery of the 13 metre long tank took place via flatback truck and Antonov 124, the second largest cargo plane in the world. We organized the entire special transport – from door to door.

Transport Assignment 'Brewery Equipment'

GW Air & Sea / Weiss-Röhlig Houston Transport Assignment: 3,800 cbm used brewery equipment, including nine beer tanks (18 m length / 4.5 m diameter) were shipped from Erfurt (Germany) via Bremen and Houston to Shiner TX (USA).

13 Cable Reels with Mooring Ropes

The task was to move thirteen cable reels with mooring ropes, each weighing 72 tons and a diameter of 4.6 metres, from Newcastle upon Tyne via Blyth to Rotterdam, where the material was needed urgently to be installed off-shore in time.
With suitable low bed trailers for the move to the port of loading and the dedicated charter vessel m/v ANNE, the transport was successfully done and all of the customer’s requirements fulfilled.

Train Tracks from Belgium to Australia

Weighing a total of 2,500 tons and measuring between 16.2 and 25 metres – that is the train tracks of the Voest Alpine Schienen GmbH, which were brought from Antwerp, Belgium to Australia with the DOLFIJNGRACHT – a 11,000 nautical miles long journey. We organized the transport for the Austrian steel company based in Linz.

Inland Waterway Transport on Yangtze River

2,000 cbm plant components were brought from Shanghai in the East of China to Leshan in the South West – a more than 2,000 kilometers long journey on the Yangtze River.

Chemical Injection Skid

With dimensions of 15.35 x 7.50 x 8.20 metres, the unit can be compared to a single family house – all that at a weight of 120 tons.
Starting with a night drive pre-carriage to loading port Ravenna (Italy), where charter vessel m/v CONSTANCE was already waiting to take in the cargo, the injection skid was shipped to a ship yard in Gdansk (Poland), where it was installed on an off-shore drilling rig.

Pressure Vessels for Urea plant

GW arranged and executed the move of four heavy lifts from Linz (Austria) to Xingang (China) on behalf of a well-known Austrian plant engineering & construction company. The pressure vessels had unit weights of 81, 177, 245 and 253 tons at a maximum length of 26.5 metres for the biggest unit.

Intake Manifold: Ambitious Transport Project

The order: to transport an intake manifold for a full-service supplier of small hydroelectric power plants from Prjedor (Bosnia) to St Pölten (Lower Austria). The challenge when transporting this component was securing the cargo during loading. As this exceptional load was elbow-shaped, we held it tight with chains in order to ensure that the manifold arrived at its destination smoothly and safely.

Truck and Load Lifted over Bottleneck

To respond flexibly with a quick solution – that is part of our job as logistics specialists. For example, when handling a Kaplan turbine, which we transported for a supplier of small hydroelectric power plants to a new energy-generating plant.
The streets of a little town in the Salzkammergut are not equipped to deal with a turbine measuring 4.70 meters wide and 3.90 meters high, and a bottleneck in the center of Bad Goisern threatened to hold up the project. We quickly decided to use a mobile crane to lift the truck-trailer, complete with its load, over the obstacle in question and carry on our way.

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