Austria – Czech Republic – Hungary – Slovakia.
All four countries are very much STGs “home turf”, with innumerable collections and deliveries, with trailer movements almost on a weekly basis.
The highlight project, touched on elsewhere, was the delivery of a 98ton casting from the Skoda ironworks at Plzen, in the Czech Republic, to Resita Romania. During the initial feasibility study, it soon became evident that that direct road movement was impractical – particularly as the vehicle would have a gross train weight in excess of 175tons.
As a consequence, the project was split into three legs. The first by road to Bratislava – in itself no mean feat, satisfying all the authorities on route. In Bratislava port, the casting was transferred to a waiting barge, for shipment along the Danube. This leg itself presented problems, given that the Danube was only marginally navigable, with various bridges damaged as a consequence of the Yugoslav conflict. The last leg, possibly the easiest, involved transfer from barge to trailer again, for delivery to near Resita.
Needless to say, predominately as a consequence of a thorough feasibility study and thanks to the strong connections with our various partners on route, everything went well – much to the satisfaction of our Swiss customer.
The Danube also featured on the delivery of a gas turbine to Budapest, where the river/barge stage started off from Rotterdam, initially along the Rhine – before then connecting with the Danube.
