June 6 - Universal Transport has acquired the majority interest in heavy transport specialist Messingschlager, with retroactive effect from January 1, 2014.
Messingschlager, based in the Upper Franconia Hirschaid, will now trade as Universal Transport Messingschlager and the management team will consist of Karsten Hillebrand and Markus Messingschlager. All 35 employees and the complete vehicle fleet have been taken over to the new company.
Holger Dechant, member of the management board at Universal Transport Paderborn commented: "With its qualified employees and its modern vehicle fleet Messingschlager is the ideal complement to our activities in the region. We are pleased to have a heavy load logistics specialist with more than four decades of experience in our midst."
In May 2014, the Universal Transport team coordinated the delivery of 950 tonnes of precast concrete components in Stockholm.
The components were for a tunnel construction project in the Russian city and Universal Transport had only a six-month window to complete the project.
30 lorries synchronised in a fixed delivery schedule were required to deliver the consignment. The tunnel, which will be 6 km long when completed, is situated under Stockholm town centre therefore space around the entrance was severely restricted.
Among other obstacles along the route, the drivers had to negotiate a hoof shaped concrete ramp with 14 percent incline along a lane measuring only 7 m wide. The vehicle configuration, which weighed as much as 100 tonnes and measured 26 m long, had only a few centimetres of space between the tunnel wall and the load.
Universal Transport has also delivered two transformers with a combined weight of 200 tonnes from Dresden to the Norwegian city of Hammerfest - Europe's northernmost city.
The 7 m x 4 m x 2.6 m transformers were loaded onto two separate 12-axle flatbed trailers using deck cranes, before being hauled to the port of Winsmar where they was loaded onboard a waiting cargo vessel.
In the harbour of Hammerfest the units were transported to their final destination 30 km inland. Universal Transport had to negotiate snow drifts up to 4 m high, which held up the shipment. However, the transformers were safely positioned on their foundations at the project site.
www.universal-transport.com
