An intermodal transport operation for shipment of two heavy and outsized machinery parts from Krefeld to works in the Dutch Ijsselstein (for special fine treatment with connecting transport to Antwerp and shipment to USA) required not only knowledge and experience in heavy lift transport and handling, but also high sensitivity and flexibility to overcome unforeseeable obstacles.

Two rough forging pieces of 208 tons each, the larger one with dimensions of 6,000 x 4,800 x 3,070mm enforced the involved specialists of Hagen-based RoIf Riedl GmbH and Bremen-based Transgerma Riedl & Kiehntopf GmbH to initiate ad hoc specific efforts and technical precautionary arrangements at several points of the routing.

Difficulties came up at the very first stage of transport from the foundry at Krefeld to the inland port of Krefeld. To reduce transport height in order to keep a clear height difference of up to 40 mm from the ceiling of a tunnel which had to be passed, the heavy machinery part on the 14 axle low bed trailer had been brought into a slight slanting position on the trailer deck using higher supporting wedges on the lower side of the component. A millimetre-perfect operation of the Riedl expert team.

Having passed the tunnel by night only, the rough forging machinery giant was handled next day in the port of Krefeld by a stationary heavy lift crane onto a pontoon barge. On the pontoon deck six stillages had been set up before the component was lowered onto the barge, enabling self-driving transporters to drive under the piece at destination and raise it up for rolling off by their own hydraulic system.

From the second to the fourth day of the operation the 208 tons piece was carried on the Rhine river and on the Merwede Canal in Holland to a position near the Dutch city of Nieuwegein. Arriving at 8.00pm in the evening, the pontoon was positioned cross to the canal, while the embankment was bridged from the pontoon deck onto the parallel road by a supporting construction of girders and steelplates, allowing self-driving transport units to drive on the deck below the piece, which was raised up hydraulically and safely rolled off ashore. Early in the morning at 3.00am on the fifth day the piece reached the works at Ijsselstein for proceeding fine treatment.
Since early December 1998, the experts of the Riedl companies carefully investigated several route alternatives which were presented with all technical specifications and calculations to municipalities, local offices, highway administrations, energy suppliers etc. - but finally were rejected for various reasons.

After negotiations lasting several weeks the roll-off operation at Nieuwegein (and use of the connecting route until Ijsselstein) had been approved, including a small section of the A2 highway. The A2 highway bears the most dense traffic within the Netherlands. The section between junction points Nieuwegein-Zuid and Nieuwegein-Noord for that particular night had been closed for any other traffic during that night period, from 22.30 hours until midnight. Up to the access of the Nieuwegein-Zuid junction all traffic signs had to be removed and traffic islands and curbstones protected by wooden blocks and steel plates. The right track of the highway was also closed until the Fina tank station for the heavy transport move. Immediately after the tank station the heavy lift transport was diverted away from the highway, crossing the exit of the tank station and a business road access, and was pushed onto a small public road directly leading to final destination.

A special approval for this routing was given by Fina in view of underground gasoline tanks tangent to the track, after the Riedl experts presented calculations of lateral pressures in a certain distance. Touching the business road access, a bypass for the track had to be laid with sand, wooden layers and steel plates since the curving radius of the transport unit overlapped the angle between the business road and the public road.

On the proceeding road route, a car bridge crossing the Oude Ijssel river had to be passed underneath. Each curve and each underground cable and water pipeline had to be protected by a sand layer with supporting plates, while traffic signs had been removed primarily. Dutch traffic radio and special signs warned car drivers one week before this transport operation for any hinderances.

After final mechanical treatment in the Ijsselstein works, the Riedl experts hauled the first of the two heavy pieces back on a deviated route to the handling position near Nieuwegein on the Merwede Canal, using the same roll-on bridging that was in operation for the roll-off operation before. The machinery part, now secured by seaworthy packing had to be carried through an artificial by-pass from the public road to the A2 highway, crossing a ditch which had to be protected by a tube, a sand layer and steel plates. An underpass of the A2 highway had to be passed at creeping speed since a clearance of only 4,240 mm was available for the transport height of 4,200 mm. Meanwhile at the exact position for the roll-on transfer onto the pontoon barge, a floating jetty of a yachting club had been installed and fastened, which was unknown before. For handling reasons the marina jetty had to be sunk, which was repeated for the second transport as well, for which the yachting club requested a generous salary.

On Sunday 11th April, three weeks later, the Riedl team took over the second piece from the Dutch works at Ijsselstein via the same route, during night time between 18.30 hours and midnight via the Merwede Canal to Antwerp. Also the seaborne shipments of the two pieces by conro vessels of ACL Atlantic Container Line to New York had been arranged by Transgerma Riedl & Kiehntopf.