COLI Group successfully delivers transport of 14 transformers for GE Vernova and Poland’s Baltica 2 offshore wind farm
HAMBURG: COLI Group has recently completed a six-month transport project for GE Vernova, moving 14 large power transformers from GE Vernova’s Turkish factory to a job site in Poland supporting the Baltica 2 offshore wind farm. The cargo was shipped across three voyages on three separately chartered vessels, and the project marks the second collaboration between COLI and GE Vernova’s team in Poland.
The transformers were picked up at GE Vernova’s factory and loaded at Safiport in Derince, Türkiye. Ten units, ranging from 110 to 170 tonnes each, were offloaded at the port of Gdynia and transported onward by land to the job site. The remaining four transformers, each weighing 361 tonnes, were barged to Władysławowo, where a complex roro operation had to be carried out. Also, a temporary storage area was set up at Władysławowo while the job site itself was being prepared to receive the units.
Challenges
The onward land transport of the heavy transformers presented a series of legal, technical and logistical challenges. Several existing bridges along the route were unable to carry the weight of the cargo, requiring a temporary flyover structure to be mounted on top of the existing infrastructure. The operation also had to be coordinated closely with multiple local Polish authorities, and carried out through harsh winter conditions, with temperatures dropping to -15°C.
Can Yılbaşı, Business Development Manager, COLI Istanbul, says: “We are very proud of our team and partners to have concluded this special and complex in a successful manner and I want to thank GE Vernova’s team for their trust. Thanks to the flexibility and close cooperation on both sides, we were able to overcome every obstacle along the way and deliver, as we say, a solution beyond the ordinary.”
Felix Peinemann, Managing Director of COLI Group, says: “I am very proud of our team and this project. Moving 14 large and heavy units to the same site in 3 months in challeging conditions is not something any freight forwarder does every day. A key reason that the project came to a succesful conclusion can be found in the combined efforts of people and locations in the COLI Group; that really brings out the value for our clients”.
A milestone project
For COLI, the project represents a significant milestone: it’s the second time working directly with GE Vernova’s team in Poland, and a contribution to Baltica 2: a 1.5 GW offshore wind farm being developed by PGE Group and Ørsted in the Polish Baltic Sea. Scheduled for commissioning in 2027, Baltica 2 will be Poland’s largest-ever renewable energy investment, featuring 107 wind turbines with the capacity to power over 2.4 million households.
Additional technical background on the flyover bridge reinforcement or the roro operation at Władysławowo available on request.
For now, this can give you an impression of the large scope of the land-based part of the project:
PROJECT BALTICA II – heavy cargo data (transformers)
5 road convoys:
1) 2×14 parallel SPMT axles
1 truck – 16×1,5 THP axle lines (
8 pilot cars
2 flyover bridges were installed over two existing bridges along the transport route
2) 2×14 parallel SPMT axles
1 truck – 16×1,5 THP axle lines
8 pilot cars
Two flyover bridges were installed over two existing bridges along the transport route.
3) 2 trucks – 12 THP axle lines each
1 truck – 18 THP axle lines
5 pilot cars
4) 3 trucks – 18 THP axle lines each
5 pilot cars
5) 4 trucks – 15 THP axle lines each
6 pilot cars
1 pontoon
About COLI Group
COLI Schiffahrt & Transport (est. 1974) is a German logistics solutions provider focusing on breakbulk, project and Heavy Lift cargoes. In addition to its HQ in Hamburg, the COLI Group has offices in Bremen, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Guyana, Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo. COLI offers a global presence through their extensive Network.
COLI Group’s experienced logistics specialists, brokers and engineers are familiar with all methods of cargo handling, such as conventional, breakbulk, heavy lift, submersible or roll on/off.
With our own fleet of MPP vessels and access to various types of on-demand vessels, we offer substantial market, project and cargo-type knowledge and maintain long lasting relationships with our customers. For decades we have proven our added value service approach towards our customers, such (as but not limited to) manufacturers, OEM’s, forwarders and brokers around the globe.
Our goal is to offer best-for-project solutions and be a trusted partner delivering ‘solutions beyond the ordinary’ for our worldwide clientele.
