BREMERHAVEN: March 02, 2016. Project freight forwarder Bertling has completed the loading aboard a multipurpose heavylift vessel the largest gas turbine ever manufactured by Siemens.

The shipment, together with a generator, will be delivered to a gas power plant in Hamitabat near Lüleburgaz in northwest Turkey, due for completion in the Summer of 2017.

The 485-tonne gas turbine, together with a 465-tonne Siemens generator, was loaded from a barge to Rickmers-Linie's Rickmers Hamburg – the first time the 30,000dwt multipurpose heavy lift vessel had called at Bremerhaven, where Clasen Rickmers founded the Rickmers Group in 1834.

The load is the first of four shipments and will be discharged in the port of Tekirdag, southwest of Istanbul. Rickmers-Linie's specialized vessels will make three more calls at Bremerhaven to load cargo for this project.

Dirk Gindl, Rickmers-Linie general manager Sales Germany commented: "Due to the weight of the cargo and for us the historic background of the location, this was not just like any other port call. Of course, no loading operation is ever exactly like another and it is never a routine," he added.

Rickmers-Linie specializes in the global transportation of break bulk, heavy lift and project cargo by sea. The maritime group manages a fleet of more than 130 vessels.