November 25 - The Industrial Projects arm of global forwarder DHL has undertaken the movement of a consignment of six items, each weighing between 165 and 850 tonnes, between South Korea and India utilising a self-propelled ro-ro barge. Three of the items

The barge had a 38 m beam and was 140 m in length. DHL India undertook the move for client Larsen & Toubro(L&T), a technology, engineering, construction and manufacturing company, and one of the largestcompanies in India.

The consignment was loaded at the port of Ulsan in South Korea before the barge was sailed to Paradip Port in India on a 4,300 nm journey. Paradip is one of India's major ports, serving the Eastern and Central parts of the country with an hinterland extending to states such as Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal.

The cargo was loaded using SPMTs for the projected 25 day movement. Heavy sea lashings and securing were required as poor weather waspredicted en route to India.

At Paradip, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) had constructed a special ro-ro jetty to handle the arrival of the consignment as it exceeded existing facilities and limits at the port.

On arrival at the Indian port, mangers found that while the jetty had a width of 80 m, only 50 m of that width had a draught of 4m. This did not prevent safe and timely landing of the cargo, which required precise handling of the barge.