When a 48-ton Liebherr crane needed moving from a job site in Kazakhstan to Dordrecht in the Netherlands, the Latvian multimodal transport company, KGE Baltic was called into action. The company moved the crane from the Tengiz oil field development as well as additional spare parts and equipment.

Tengiz oil reservoir is located deep beneath the western Kazakhstan steppe where the oil column measures 1.6 kilometres across. With a surface area more than four times that of Paris, France, Tengiz ranks as the world’s deepest producing supergiant oil field and the largest single-trap producing reservoir in existence.

The dimensions of the crane are 13.39 x 2.55 x 4.00m with a weight of 48 tons. KGE arranged a low-bed trailer with ramps for the crane and the spare parts including counterweights were loaded in a FTL truck.The heavy crane was moved with a multimodal option (road-sea-road) via Saint Petersburg Port and the standard truck was moved by road via Lithuania.

KGE noted that the main challenge for the operation was to deliver both the heavy crane as well as spare parts and the equipment to the Netherlands simultaneously. However, following thorough planning the company was able to deliver both loads to the customs in the Netherlands on the same day.