Project freight forwarding specialist deugro has completed the complex maritime transport of 2,265 heavy-industrial pipes from the Port of Shanghai, China, to the Port of San Antonio Este, Argentina. Executed for a major industrial project, the cross-border operation required close coordination between deugro’s regional offices in Spain and China alongside its specialized global chartering division to secure ocean capacity and engineer custom cargo-securing frameworks.
The large-scale shipment comprised coated and concrete-weighted steel pipes across multiple technical dimensions, including 20-inch, 24-inch, 30-inch, and 36-inch diameters. In total, the industrial cargo exceeded 14,600 cubic meters (cbm) in volume and represented a combined deadweight of more than 10,000 metric tons.
Heavy-Lift Chartering and Stowage Engineering
Securing a suitable multi-purpose vessel presented an immediate challenge due to a highly constrained global heavy-lift charter market. deugro’s Chartering Department utilized its long-standing carrier networks to secure a flexible fixture capable of accommodating strict loading timelines and the specific structural stability requirements of the heavy steel cargo.
Because large-diameter coated pipes are highly sensitive to deformation and surface friction damage, deugro’s transport engineers designed a custom stowage and lashing blueprint. The technical parameters were calculated to balance the vessel’s cubic capacity and vertical stability while capping the structural stress placed on the bottom pipe tiers.
Key cargo protection measures deployed during the voyage included:
- Padded Lifting Slings: Eliminating direct metal-to-metal contact during crane lifts to prevent scratching, chipping, or fracturing the protective outer concrete and anti-corrosion coatings.
- Certified Wooden Separators: Positioning specialized timber dunnage between pipe layers to distribute weight evenly and prevent localized pressure points from causing structural ovality.
- Custom Lashing Arrangements: Designing bespoke tensioning systems to secure the rows against the multi-axis forces encountered during a deep-sea transpacific crossing.
Consolidating Multi-Supplier Intermodal Inbound Flows
The project’s logistical complexity was heightened at the Port of Shanghai, where the cargo originated from two separate manufacturing suppliers using different domestic transit modes. One manufacturer delivered its portion to the port terminals via heavy-haul trucking fleets, while the second supplier routed its inventory to the berths via inland river barges.
To prevent port congestion and minimize vessel demurrage risks, deugro’s local port captains established a strict, synchronized staging timeline. The team coordinated the physical receipt, quality inspection, and strategic positioning of both inbound streams, consolidating them into a single, continuous vessel-loading sequence.
Continuous on-site supervision enabled loading operations at Shanghai to be completed within a tight three-day window. Following the ocean transit, coordinated workflows between deugro and local Argentinian stevedores allowed the entire 14,600 cbm shipment to be discharged safely within eight days, avoiding terminal storage surcharges.
Zero-Damage Delivery Preserves Industrial Project Timelines
In large-volume pipe logistics, minor structural deviations or hairline coating cracks can lead to down-line pipeline failures, requiring expensive on-site field repairs or total component re-ordering. Field inspections completed at the San Antonio Este discharge berths confirmed that all 2,265 units arrived with zero material damage or coating degradation.
Santiago Vaquero, Sales and Business Development Manager at deugro Madrid, noted that handling this volume of sensitive pipes presented major space management and stowage optimization challenges. He emphasized that the custom-engineered handling and lashing solutions successfully prevented pressure deformation, allowing the industrial project to progress without any deviations from its master timeline.
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