Project and oversized cargo
Cargo that does not fit in a container, on a route designed around it
A production line, a press, a tank, a structure that is nine metres long. These do not have a rate per cubic metre. Each one gets a route drawn for it: which port can lift it, which bridge it fits under, which permits it needs and who signs them.
Who this is for
What we move
If it needs a crane, a permit or a drawing before it can travel, it belongs on this page.
Production lines and industrial plant
Machines that arrive in sections, are installed in a fixed order and cannot be unloaded in the wrong sequence without costing you a week.
Single heavy units
Presses, generators, transformers, tanks. One item, one lift plan, no room for improvisation at the port.
Construction machinery and vehicles
Self-propelled or towed, with their own rules about fuel, batteries and securing.
Structures and long items
Beams, pipes, towers, anything longer than a container. Often the route matters more than the freight rate.
Scope
What the job actually involves
What we do
- Survey the cargo: dimensions, weight, centre of gravity, lifting points, what may and may not be dismantled
- Engineer the route — ports with the right lifting capacity, road limits, bridges, transfer points
- Obtain the transport permits, including the ones that take weeks rather than days
- Design the packing and the lashing for that specific unit, not from a template
- Arrange the lift at both ends and supervise loading
- Book the vessel space or the rail platform the cargo actually fits on
- Insure the shipment for its real value
- Clear customs at destination and deliver to the installation site
What you get
- A route plan with the transfer points and the timings written down
- The permit set, obtained by us
- A lifting and lashing plan for your unit
- Photo and video record of loading and securing
- Delivery to the site, not to the port
- One responsible party for a shipment that touches five contractors
How it works
How a project shipment is put together
Project cargo is planning first and transport second. Most of the cost and almost all of the risk is decided before anything moves.
Cargo survey
Drawings, dimensions, weight, lifting points. If the equipment can be split for transport, this is where we find out — it often halves the price.
Route design
Which port, which road, which bridge, which transfer. We look for the constraint before it finds us.
Permits and booking
Transport permits obtained, vessel or platform booked. This step sets the real timeline and we quote it honestly.
Packing and loading
Packing and lashing engineered for the unit, the lift supervised, everything photographed and filmed.
Transit
Sea, rail or a combination, with the transfer points already agreed rather than improvised.
Customs and delivery to site
Clearance at destination, final leg, unloading at the installation point. From here equipment supply can continue into commissioning.
Cost
Why there is no price list for this
Two units of the same weight can differ in price several times over. What decides it is not the tonnage.
What the price depends on
- Dimensions against the limits of the route: one centimetre over a bridge clearance changes the entire plan
- Weight against the lifting capacity available at each end
- Whether the unit can be dismantled for transport and reassembled on site
- How many permits the route needs and how long they take to obtain
- The destination — a port city, an inland industrial site and a construction site with no crane are three different jobs
- Whether insurance is at declared value or full replacement value
If the equipment is not bought yet, talk to us before you order it. We have seen units specified in a configuration that could not legally travel to the buyer's country, and finding that out after payment is an expensive way to learn it.
Questions
What people ask about oversized cargo
How do you know if my cargo counts as oversized?
Roughly: anything over about 2.3 metres wide, 2.6 metres high or 12 metres long stops fitting a standard container, and anything over about 25 tonnes stops being a normal lift.
But the real answer depends on the route, not the cargo. Send the dimensions and we will tell you which category you are in and what it changes.
Can the equipment be dismantled to save money?
Often yes, and it is usually the single biggest saving available. A unit split into two container loads costs a fraction of the same unit moved as break bulk.
Whether it can be split without voiding the warranty is a question for the manufacturer, and we will ask them with you.
Who gets the transport permits?
We do. That includes the ones with long lead times, which is why the permit step sits early in the plan and not at the end.
A permit applied for late is the most common reason a project shipment slips by a month.
Do you deliver to the port or to the installation site?
To the site. For project cargo this is not a detail: the last twenty kilometres are frequently the hardest part of the route, and a unit standing at a terminal because the final road cannot take it is not delivered.
Is the shipment insured?
Yes, and we recommend insuring at real replacement value rather than at declared invoice value. For a single unit that stops a production line, the difference between those two numbers is the entire point of the insurance.
How far ahead should I start?
Earlier than feels necessary. The transport itself is predictable; permits, vessel space for out-of-gauge cargo and crane availability at both ends are not.
Come to us with the drawings while you are still choosing the supplier and we will tell you what the route allows before you commit.
Next steps
What goes with it
Project shipments almost never arrive on their own paperwork.
Request
Tell us the task — we will come back with questions and a plan
Four short steps. After you send it, you will see a confirmation with your name on it, and a person from the Guangzhou office picks it up during Chinese working hours.
If you would rather write than fill in a form, the messenger buttons in the chat window reach the same team.