Flat rack
A platform with walls only at the ends, or none at all. It allows loading from the sides and from above, and accepts pieces wider than the container. Available in 20' and 40'.
Services · 04 / Project cargo
Project cargo
When the equipment does not fit in a container, transport stops being a rate and becomes a project. The route has to be measured before moving it, permits obtained, cranes coordinated and the bridge checked to see whether it will hold.
We handle it from preliminary engineering to delivery on site.
What project cargo is
It is not a rate category: it is a condition of the cargo.
A shipment enters this territory when at least one of these things happens.
- It does not fit in a standard container. It exceeds the height, width or length of a 20' or a 40', and therefore needs open equipment or shipment without a container.
- It weighs more than normal equipment can carry. A concentrated piece can exceed the floor capacity of a container even if it fits dimensionally.
- It requires special maneuvers. A high-tonnage crane, two-point lifting, modular hydraulic platforms.
- It needs permits. On the road leg, any excess of dimension or weight over what the regulations allow requires an authorization and sometimes an escort.
- It is a set that must arrive complete. A plant dispatched in twenty packages from three origins, where a missing one means nothing can be assembled.
Ocean mode
The natural route for project cargo.
It is the only one with no practical weight ceiling and the one that offers the most equipment alternatives.
Open top
A conventional container without a rigid roof, closed with a tarpaulin. It works when the piece exceeds the height but not the width, and when it has to be loaded by crane from above.
Break bulk
The cargo travels loose in the vessel’s hold, without a container. It is used when the piece is so large that no combination of open equipment works. It requires a stowage plan, calculated lashing and often a general cargo vessel, with lower frequencies than container ships.
RoRo
Roll on, roll off: the vessel has a ramp and the cargo enters rolling. It is the natural option for self-propelled machinery. When the equipment cannot move on its own, it can be shipped on a rolling platform, avoiding the lift.
What sticks out is called out-of-gauge, or OOG. The shipping line charges according to how much sticks out and in which direction, because that determines how many stowage spaces are blocked around it: a piece that sticks out twenty centimeters on each side can cost as if it took up three containers, because the shipping line cannot put anything next to it.
Ocean considerations
- Ports are not equivalent. The available crane, the depth and the storage space determine what can be received: a piece that unloads without a problem at one terminal can be impossible at another.
- The shipping window matters more than in normal cargo. A flat rack with out-of-gauge cargo needs confirmation from the shipping line before booking, and if the vessel changes you start again.
- Insurance is quoted differently. For project cargo, a specific policy per shipment is advisable, not the general cover.
Air mode
The most limited route dimensionally, and the most expensive.
It makes sense when the cost of having the site stopped exceeds any freight: a critical component of a stopped plant can fly, even if the freight costs several times what the piece does.
What limits it
- The door, not the hold. The real restriction is almost never the aircraft’s interior space but the opening through which the cargo enters: a piece that would fit inside can be impossible to load.
- The type of aircraft. The lower hold of a passenger aircraft allows modest heights; the main deck of a freighter allows considerably more. For truly large pieces there are oversized cargo aircraft, chartered for the whole operation.
- Weight per bearing point. An aircraft has a load limit per square meter of floor. A compact, heavy piece can exceed that limit even if its total weight is acceptable, and then it must be spread over a special base.
Air considerations
- It requires prior confirmation from the airline with exact measurements and weights, not estimates: a difference of centimeters changes the answer.
- Packaging must be lighter than for ocean freight, because every kilo of crate is freight. But it cannot be weaker: air cargo is handled at every stopover.
- Real availability must be considered. Not all flights accept oversized cargo, and some destinations have limited frequency of freighters.
Road mode
Every project shipment ends in a road leg.
Even if it has crossed the ocean. And it is the leg where things get most complicated.
Permits
In Chile, transport that exceeds the permitted dimensions or weight requires authorization from the road authority. The permit defines the exact route, the hours and whether an escort is needed.
It is not an automatic process. The proposed route is assessed: the bridges the cargo will cross, the clearances of the underpasses, the turning radii on the curves.
Route survey
It is what distinguishes project transport from normal freight, and it is done before committing to the operation: physically travelling the road and measuring every restriction, from the clearance under each bridge and cable to the gradient on the access roads.
When an insurmountable obstacle appears there are three ways out: change the route, dismantle the piece at origin, or intervene on the obstacle. Finding that problem in the survey costs time. Finding it with the truck stopped halfway costs much more.
Equipment
Three platforms to gain clearance and spread weight.
Low loader
A reduced-height platform that gains centimeters of clearance. It is the base equipment for machinery.
Extendable
It lengthens for long pieces that cannot take an overhang.
Hydraulic modular
Platforms that couple together and adjust their height independently. They are used for high-tonnage loads and allow the weight to be spread over more axles, which is what makes crossing a bridge viable.
Road considerations
- Hours are usually restricted: many permits authorize movement at night or in the early morning so as not to interfere with traffic.
- An escort may be mandatory depending on the dimensions, and it must be coordinated in advance.
- In the north of the country, the mine site adds its own conditions: altitude, private roads with their own rules, limited access windows.
How we operate
Seven steps, from engineering to the site.
You can follow your cargo on the MyDucis portal once the shipment is confirmed.
- Preliminary engineeringBefore quoting we need the real measurements of each package: length, width, height, weight, center of gravity and lifting points. Not supplier estimates, but the drawing or the technical data sheet. With that we define whether the piece travels on open equipment, break bulk or RoRo, and whether the road leg is viable.
- Route surveyAt origin and at destination. It determines whether the road exists and what is needed to travel it.
- Permits and authorizationsThey are processed with the route already defined, because the permit is for that route and not another.
- Lifting planIt defines which crane, with what capacity, from what position and with what rigging. When the maneuver requires it, it is signed by a responsible professional.
- Packaging and lashingCalculated for the mode of transport. What works on a truck does not necessarily withstand thirty days of navigation with the movement of a ship.
- Shipment and trackingWith coordination at the port and verification at each transfer point, which is where most damage occurs.
- Delivery to siteWith the crane ready and the receiving window agreed. Project cargo that arrives without the receiver being able to unload it generates waiting costs that far exceed what it costs to coordinate it well.
Before quoting
What we need to quote.
- Drawing or technical data sheet with dimensions and weight per package
- Exact location of origin and final destination
- Whether the piece can be dismantled and how far
- Lifting points and center of gravity
- Commercial value, for the insurance
- Committed date, if there is one
With that we can say whether it is viable and how much it costs. Without it, any number is a guess.
Next step
Tell us what equipment you need to move.
With the drawing or the technical data sheet we can say whether it is viable and on what timeline. If information is missing, we write to you before quoting instead of giving you a number that changes later.