Giants in the air

In the middle of November, a rare guest landed at Stuttgart Airport: the Antonov An-124, one of the largest cargo planes in the world. On behalf of a customer, two mobile Kleemann crushing plants with a total weight of around 80 tons were flown to Liberia.

"Our customer needed a speedy delivery to be awarded a contract for a new project", said Markus Krill, Sales Manager at Kleemann. "If we had transported the plants over land or by sea, they would not have arrived at the destination until the beginning of January." The customer therefore decided to charter the Antonov An-124 for the order. We had to check exactly whether the mobile jaw crushers MOBICAT MC 110 Z EVO and the mobile cone crusher MOBICONE MCO 9 S EVO would be suitable for this type of extraordinary transport. Assembly, Sales, Customer Support and Logistics at Kleemann worked flat out on the project to guarantee the fast delivery. Among other things, additional transport locks were required for reliable securing of movable components.

The go-ahead was given a few days before transport. The plants were then loaded in close collaboration with the handling agent at Stuttgart Airport. Within a short time, the transport ramp for the Antonov was extended and a wooden drive track was installed in the cargo hold to protect the floor. Even though this is one of the largest cargo planes in the world, the two Service staff members had to take particular care when moving the tracked mobile plants to ensure that they had enough space in the cargo hold. The next day the Antonov An-124 eventually landed in Monrovia, Liberia. The mobile crusher plants will already be in operation there in an iron ore mine at the beginning of December.