Rhenus transports cable drums weighing up to 95 tons for German projects such as SuedLink

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Rhenus is continuously handling heavy-lift logistics for cable transport on Germany's SuedLink and SuedOstLink HVDC transmission projects, moving HVDC cables manufactured at European production sites to storage points and construction sites along the routes via sea, inland waterway, and heavy road transport. The large cable drums used in these projects weigh mainly between 70 and 95 tons each, with diameters exceeding 4 meters; combined with the transport vehicles, some transport units reach a total weight of approximately 180 tons.

Each drum typically carries around 400 meters of cable. Rhenus begins designing the specific transport plan approximately 4 to 6 weeks before the scheduled pickup date, requiring advance checks of bridge load capacities, road turning radii, roundabouts, road widths, and site access conditions. Some sections require temporary removal of road signs, installation of steel plates, or route adjustments; each heavy transport operation may involve up to around 20 different approvals, with up to 50 personnel involved in port handling, water and land transport, site delivery, and traffic management.

SuedLink spans approximately 700 kilometers and uses 525 kV HVDC underground cables, being jointly built by TenneT and TransnetBW. The total length of underground cables required for the project is approximately 2,420 kilometers, supplied by NKT and Prysmian, with products originating from production sites including Cologne in Germany, Karlskrona in Sweden, Montereau in France, and Pikkala in Finland. After cable manufacturing is completed, the cables are first shipped by vessel and heavy transport vehicles to intermediate storage facilities along the route, then delivered in batches to cable-laying sites according to construction progress. All sections of SuedLink are currently under construction, with the project scheduled for completion by the end of 2028.

Rhenus is also responsible for cable drum handling and warehousing at the SuedLink Heilbronn intermediate storage facility. The storage area covers approximately 10,100 square meters and has been specially modified to withstand heavy equipment and drum loads. The project execution period runs from August 2024 to March 2027, with plans to handle and store more than 100 cable drums and approximately 280 associated accessories at this site, where the heaviest 525 kV cable drums reach up to 99.5 tons each. Centralized delivery of cables from this warehouse to construction zones is scheduled for 2026 to 2027.

Cable logistics for the SuedOstLink project likewise combine road and water transport. Some cable sections, up to approximately 2 kilometers in length, are manufactured in Cologne, Germany, wound onto drums weighing up to around 100 tons, and transported approximately 120 kilometers by heavy transport vehicles up to about 40 meters long with up to 16 axles to the inland port of Wesel; each vessel can carry up to 18 drums, which are then shipped approximately 470 kilometers by waterway to a storage facility north of Magdeburg, capable of holding up to around 540 drums.

Rhenus has previously transported at least 100 of the more than 300 planned drums for SuedOstLink, with individual drums weighing up to approximately 85 tons. In addition to SuedLink and SuedOstLink, Rhenus is also involved in German transmission and offshore grid connection projects such as A-Nord and BorWin/DolWin 4; according to its most recently published project statistics, the cumulative number of related cable drums transported or currently being transported exceeds 2,700.