When the maritime industry gathers at its premier tradeshow – the SMM – in Hamburg, Goldhofer Aktiengesellschaft of Memmingen will also be there. At stand 101 on the ground floor of hall B, the world market leader will be presenting its innovative transport equipment for the heavy-haulage industry, which is also ideally suited for transporting ships or ship sections and offshore plants.

The 2,800 ton USS Coronado on Goldhofer PST/ES-E self-propelled modules. Photo courtesy of: Goldhofer

Goldhofer’s PST/ES-E self-propelled heavy-duty module transporters (SPMT) with hydrostatic drive and electronic multiway steering are now a standard item in the maritime industry worldwide. With a vehicle width of 2,430 mm, the PST/ES-E modules can be transported from one job to another on a cost-effective basis using normal flatbeds or flatracks.

“We shall be informing visitors in Hamburg about the world firsts for the SPMT market that we presented only a few weeks ago at our Innovation Days in Memmingen. Our revolutionary ideas are predestined for maritime operations,” says Horst Häfele, Sales Director Heavy Duty Modules at Goldhofer. The company’s latest innovation in the further development of modular transporters is a hydraulically adjustable track width for an up to 25% increase in lateral stability.

Goldhofer’s PST/ES-E (385) series is specially designed for handling ultra-heavy loads. With an axle load of up to 60 tons, these self-propelled modules offer an optimum payload/axle load ratio – using standard truck tires. All Goldhofer’s new self-propelled modules can be fitted with standard tires in 285 mm (19.5 inch), 315 mm (22.5 inch) and 385 mm (22.5 inch) widths. In addition, tire wear benefits significantly from a +/-135° steering angle. All that greatly reduces running costs.

For the drive units, Goldhofer’s SPMTs come with a choice of four PowerPacks with a rated output of 150, 207, 360 and 390 kW. Thanks to their newly developed drive systems, the vehicles in the SPMT-2.0 generation achieve an up to 100% improvement in working speed and a 27.5 % increase in tractive force compared with conventional SPMTs.

“These are powerful arguments: The use of Goldhofer modules of the latest generation greatly reduces transshipment times in the ports and offers enormous potential for savings in overall costs. For the curious, the details of the calculations will be revealed at our stand on the ground floor of Hall B,” says Häfele.