Eight Sennebogens shipped by barge from Germany to US
29 January 2025
Sennebogen has transported eight large machines by barge from Straubing, Germany, via Antwerp to Charleston, South Carolina in the United States. The shipment was conducted in cooperation with Karl-Groß, a heavy haul company based in Regensburg.
From Left: The team responsible for the heavy transport - Roland Hermann and Thorsten Resch from Sennebogen together with heavy load forwarder Klaus Altmann and Andreas Löffert as well as Martin Bayer from the port of Straubing-Sand. (PHOTO: Sennebogen)
Logistical Challenges in Loading
The machines, including Sennebogen’s 855 and 870 models in crawler and mobile versions, weighed between 70 and 105 tonnes. Loading them onto the barge required dismantling counterweights and temporarily closing a road between the Sennebogen plant and the port.
“As the machines could not be lifted completely, we had to dismantle the counterweights on site and reassemble them after loading,” said Roland Hermann, Head of Customs and Foreign Trade Machine Shipping at Sennebogen.
A tandem lift using two cranes was used to distribute the weight evenly. “The challenge was to lift the machines into the barge without any interruptions or jolts. The first machine was loaded at 7 am and seven machines were safely stowed by midday,” Roland added.
Safe loading: The machines were lifted precisely onto the barge using a tandem lift. (PHOTO:
Transport Route and Environmental Considerations
The machines will travel from Straubing to Antwerp, where some will be transferred directly onto an ocean-going vessel, while others will be transported to Zeebrugge before continuing to Charleston.
Sennebogen highlights that transporting machines by barge results in lower CO2 emissions compared to road transport. “This is an important step towards increasing the sustainability of our machine shipments.
“We plan to carry out inland waterway loading regularly in the future and are currently working on implementing a comprehensive sustainability report,” Roland said.
The 107-tonne undercarriage of a 9300 E port crane being loaded onto the barge. (PHOTO: Sennebogen)
Future Use of Inland Waterway Transport
Sennebogen has previously transported heavy equipment via inland waterways, including an 895 E material handler to Israel and a 9300 E harbour crane to Turkey.
“We used to concentrate on North Sea ports such as Hamburg and Bremerhaven, but the high reloading costs in Duisburg made this increasingly unattractive. Transporting machines by barge enables us to reduce logistics costs and act more sustainably at the same time,” Roland explained.
The company intends to continue working with heavy load terminals and optimizing transport routes for future shipments.
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