Handling of the largest transformer so far in bayernhafen Nürnberg
Between the Chinese cities of Changji and Guquan lie 3,284 kilometers, a distance about as long as from Lapland to Barcelona. The two cities will be connected in 2018 by a high-voltage direct current transmission link (HVDC) with a DC transmission voltage of 1,100 kilovolts (kV) – the largest and first HVDC of its kind in the world.
Under the leadership of its transformer plant in Nuremberg, Siemens is producing the world’s first 1,100 kV converter transformers – with an output of 587.1 megavolt amperes – in cooperation with its Chinese HVDC transformer factory in Guangzhou – the most powerful in the world. The first of these four giants started its journey to China on January 25 from Siemens Trafowerk Nürnberg via the bayernhafen Nürnberg.
The entire logistical chain for the transformer measuring 13.6 mx 6.14 mx 5.9 m is managed by Züst & Bachmeier Project GmbH, located in the bayernhafen Nürnberg: including road transport from the Siemens Nuremberg transformer station to the bayernhafen Nürnberg, transshipment to the barge, journey to the waterway to Antwerp, transshipment to sea and sea freight to China.
“The trimodal Freight Center bayernhafen Nürnberg has first-class conditions for heavy goods deliveries all over the world. The Siemens transformer factory can only produce the large high-performance transformers in Nuremberg because they can be safely and reliably transported away on the waterway from here,” says Dr. Ing. Michael Fraas, Economic Officer of the City of Nuremberg, who is also Chairman of the German Waterways and Shipping Association Rhein-Main-Donau e.V.
“Our hydraulic strand lifting system is predestined for the handling of turbines, large transformers, vehicles and machinery on inland waterways, so heavy and large-sized production goods from Nuremberg travel safely to customers all over the world,” says Karl-Heinz Webersberger, Managing Director of Züst & Bachmeier Project GmbH. The company has once again expanded its heavy-duty services: Since 2015, customers have been provided with AEO-certified and correspondingly secured heavy-load storage areas. For the development of further heavy duty services, such as Pre-assembly was launched in 2017 with a potential analysis.