SPEDITION KLÜBER TRANSPORTED A 50 M SUBMARINE ON 30 SCHEUERLE INTERCOMBI AXLES
This can easily be considered the biggest transport combination ever seen on public roads in Germany. A professional and expert team from the company Spedition Kübler, accompanied the transport of a 50-metre-long submarine weighing over 500 tonnes on 30 SCHEUERLE InterCombi axles from the Natural Harbour in Speyer to the Museum of Technology, 4 km away.
On the first attempt of this transport, the push-pull vehicle combination was unsuccessful when entering the area of the Museum of Technology in Speyer, by a few centimetres. The fire alarm pillar, which was not dismantled for safety reasons, obstructed the designated route.
MAN TGX V8 towing Scheuerle’s 30-axle platform — Source: SCHEUERLE
The great challenge of this type of transport went beyond its length, the combination of this vehicle measured more than 70 m, 30 SCHEUERLE InterCombi axles were needed to be able to distribute the weight of the 485-tonne U17 submarine and almost 100 tonnes of the SCHEUERLE InterCombi to ensure that the road could hold 2,58 tonnes per wheel. This reduced wheel load was intended to completely protect the road.
The 50-year-old U17, a Class 206 submarine, 54 m long, 9 m high and 6 m wide, reached the natural harbour of Speyer via the Ferry, a reserve whose forest floor always needs special protection. In combination with 2 vehicles, the vehicle combination was 70 m long. At times, additional towing and traction vehicles were required to protect the road surface, bringing the total vehicle combination to around 90 m.
The planning of the transport from Kiel Fjord to the Museum of Technology took five years and the second attempt has already been successful. The transport combination entered the entrance of the museum slowly and it took only a few minutes before the carrier and the U17 was put on display
The U17, is on loan from the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment’s military technology study collection, Information Technology and In-Service Support, which takes place at the Speyer Technology Museum, and where it will subsequently be kept pending a restoration.
Frieder Saam, professional driver and transport manager at Michelfed-Erlin-based Spedition Kübler, said: «It was with great satisfaction to learn that the cargo reached its destination without being damaged. Five years of planning went into this special transport».
According to special transport expert Frieder Saam, in addition to his know-how and driving skills, the right type of transport is also required and therefore it would never have been possible to carry out this transport successfully without Kübler’s know-how and the high degree of manoeuvrability and robustness of the SCHEUERLE InterCombi modules.
The 30 InterCombi axles come from TII SCHEUERLE, a company specialised in the large parts transportation vehicle industry.
30 axles were needed to transport the submarine safely — Source: SCHEUERLE
The InterCombi made it through the route without any problems, however the entrance to the museum was not the only challenging test. Along the four-kilometre route from the natural harbour through the industrial area to the museum, a few hundred metres from the finishing straight, another problem almost arose.
At the intersection in the industrial area, there was a set of traffic lights and a vehicle stopped in the designated turning area. After this, the InterCombi’s maximum turning angle of about 60 degrees was sufficient to safely turn the vehicle combination around the bend.
The rest of the route proceeded calmly, despite the large dimensions of the transport. Precisely because of the qualities of the InterCombi, the high compensation of the pendulum axle of the hydraulic support totalling 650 mm was necessary in several places to be able to steer the load away from obstacles on the road, such as from kerb edges, or to cross sloping grassy areas covered with sheet metal by automatically levelling the load.
The loading process of the U17 into the InterCombi modules was successfully completed and the submarine, which was previously moored in the Kiel Fjord, arrived after crossing the North Sea on a floating platform followed by a long journey down the Rhine River.
The solid and versatile SCHEUERLE InterCombi meets all the standards required for this type of transport. It is a vehicle with a 3 m wide modular platform, which can be adjusted to the different major transport tasks. As is the case with the U17 transport, the vehicle combinations can not only be used as trailer combinations but also as tractor-trailer combinations or as self-propelled transporters.
In 2024, the U17 will be on the road again for Sinsheim Museum of Automobile and Technology. Next year, U17 will be transported in the opposite direction from the Museum of Technology in Speyer, back to the natural harbour and once again back to the platform. The terminal port of the submarine is the Sinsheim Museum of Automobile and Technology, which is located 40 km away.