A crane sets off on its travels: 170-ton transport from Brno to Ostrava

An overhead bridge crane with 360 tons lifting capacity is definitely a heavyweight. And on the road, such a heavy haulage is always an eye-catcher: the admirable overall dimensions are 37 x 6.50 x 4.65 meters. In the middle of October, our new subsidiary in the Czech Republic, Nosreti A.S., transported this crane just in time from the factory in Brno to its destination, a steel work factory, in Ostrava . The large 170-ton combination consisted of a Mercedes Arocs 8×4, a low bed, and Goldhofer module axles.

For several nights, astonished observers were able to admire not only the orange flashing lights of our vehicles and the transport escort team but also the bright yellow crane parts in the dark on the approximately 200 kilometre long track.

The project team led by Jiri Polach and Petr Gelnar had to overcome numerous hurdles: The first narrow passage was already the hall gate at the manufacturer, which were only a few millimetres higher than the transport. This was followed by other problems such as a motorway construction site where the load had to be lifted hydraulically over the crash barriers. At the end, they had to work with exceptional accuracy: In front of the entrance to the steel works factory, the heavy transport had to be lowered again to a few millimetres above the road. This was the only way it could roll into the steel work under the contact wires. The new crane arrived on time at its destination so all the hard work, detailed planning and preparation has paid off. Even though the production of crude steel had to be on hold temporarily, the steel work factory was really pleased to have this new giant crane in place.

As of 2019 we will integrate the Czech branch into the Universal Transport Group which you will notice in the name change and the well-known blue and orange colour scheme of the Universal Group. We look forward to many more spectacular transports of our new Czech colleagues.