Earlier this year, the project logistics team at C.H. Robinson were busy arranging the shipment of a forging machine from South Korea to the U.S. The job required a global suite of service offerings – including ocean, barge services, customs brokerage, and truckload.

The unit was first transported by an ocean vessel from the Port of Masan in South Korea to the Port of New Orleans which took eight weeks. Once in New Orleans, the ship’s cranes were used to unload the cargo. The 15 smaller crates were put into temporary storage before being trucked to Rockford.

However, not all the cargo could be transported over the road. The two largest crates, containing the main body of the unit, which measured 9.45 x 4.95 x 4.1 meters and weighed 130 metric tons, and the hoist and oil basket, which measured 9.7 x 4.95 x 2.6 meters and weighed 11 metric tons, were loaded directly onto a hopper barge. C.H. Robinson's global logistics experts along with their customer determined a barge to be the best method of transportation for the largest pieces since they were over 16-feet wide, so police escorts would have been required through each state if it was transported over the road.

As the 15 smaller crates made their way across highways, the barge encountered a holdup near Cairo, IL. The Illinois River froze which temporarily halted the barge until the ice melted enough to allow passage. Additionally, once the barge neared the Lemont Bridge in Illinois the team needed to remove the barge cover to provide adequate clearance.

In all, C.H. Robinson helped transport 17 crated pieces, for a total of 166 metric tons and 510 cubic meters.

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