30-tonne excavator, Lianyungang to Toamasina, lifted as breakbulk
Lashed to deck against a written lashing plan, transhipment routing quoted up front. Anonymised case study from our East Africa / Indian Ocean trade.
What the shipment involved
A 30-tonne tracked excavator was too heavy and too wide to pass through a container door and too tall for a flat rack within road limits to the terminal.
The machine was going to Madagascar on a service that tranships, so the routing had to be quoted in full before booking rather than discovered after the first leg.
Why Breakbulk, crane lift was chosen
- Weight and width rule out standard containers; the unit is a classic breakbulk lift
- Crane lift at origin and discharge was available at both ports
- The transhipment routing and its extra handling were quoted up front, so the buyer compared the real cost
How it was handled
- Drawings, weight distribution and lifting points obtained from the supplier
- Stowage and lashing plan prepared and accepted by the carrier before loading
- Crane lift at Lianyungang, unit landed on the planned stowage position
- Lashing to deck carried out to the plan and photographed
- Transhipment leg monitored; discharge and delivery sequence confirmed with the consignee
From the operation
Photographs are of comparable operations at the same loading ports. Client-identifying detail is not published.
Result and what it tells you
The excavator arrived on the quoted routing with the transhipment already priced, so there was no supplementary invoice at destination.
What matters in breakbulk is the lashing plan: it is the document the surveyor and the insurer look at first if the cargo moves.
Planning a Similar Shipment?
Send the cargo, dimensions and destination port. We will confirm the methods that work and the documents required.
Names, values and dates are omitted. These cases are representative of shipments we handle. They are not a guarantee of any specific result — every quotation is based on the actual cargo, the service booked and the rules in force at the time of booking.