CMA CGM recently had to reconfigure a container vessel to handle the huge components of a disassembled Boeing 737, and managed it.
Planes are usually transported as huge components for assembly, using ships and even specially designed barges, as in the case of the various components for Airbus aircraft where large components are assembled in different countries for final assembly in one place.
In the recent 737 case, the shipping company had to spend a lot of time finding the correct technical solution for the transport.
Head of CMA CGM project cargo division, Stéphane Berninet, said the solution was difficult to reach and required a lot of data exchanges and number crunching.
The solution established, for loading at the DP World Southampton terminal in England, was to stow the fuselage and the wings of the plane as breakbulk on a bed of 11×40-meter flat racks.
The fuselage, with the tail removed, was 25.1 metres long and 4.1 metres high.
The plane’s destination was not revealed.
