Bridge specialist Lamparter has contracted Hamburg-based Gustav Seeland with the transport and installation of a new pedestrian bridge in the Hamburg HafenCity district.
The components of the bridge, which will span the main railway lines to connect a new subway station with the new Elbbrücken railway station, weigh between 75 and 120 tonnes each and were produced by Lamparter in Hessisch Lichtenau.
Under the contract Gustav Seeland has been responsible for all pre-planning through to execution of all the logistics services in connection with the bridge project. This has included feasibility checks, obtaining the necessary permissions, the transport itself, as well as positioning the bridge elements.
Fulfilling the contract will present a number of challenges to Gustav Seeland. The 325 km transport from the production facility involved various modes of transport. Assembling the bridge across the railway lines will require the suspension of all train services and cutting the overhead electrical power supply. Furthermore, Deutsche Bahn has allocated a very tight time schedule for assembling the bridge.
The bridge components that have already prepared at Hamburg's Pella Sietas shipyard will be taken by inland waterway to Baakenhöft on a dock pontoon, before being moved to Elbbrücken on heavy haulage trailers. Loading will involve a pair of mobile cranes, one with a 500-tonne lift capacity the other capable of lifting 700 tonnes.
"Such a project requires immense precision in terms of planning, coordinating and executing the logistics services, which is a huge challenge," says Johann Evers, chief executive officer of Gustav Seeland. "In particular the safety precaution measures and the tight time frame for assembling the bridge require very exact coordination."
