The logistical chain, linking short sea and inland waterways

Most of us are familiar with the Airbus A380 project. Being a truly European company means that the production locations of the aircraft are located in different countries. Transportation of the larger parts is done by ship. The Ro-Ro vessel Ville de Bordeaux delivered by Jinling Shipyard in China to Louis-Dreyfus Armateurs in partnership with Leif Hoegh has been built around a whole A380 plane carried in 7 components. A huge cargo space of 120 in long 21 in wide and 11 m clear height without any obstacle or obstruction is reserved for the plane. Bureau Veritas has been actively involved in the design review and new construction in China. The ship sails between Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and France. The Ville de Bordeaux arrives at a floating transfer system at Pauillac, France. Tecnitas was deeply involved in various conceptual, structural, mooring and safety studies. The Breuil, built and designed for inland navigation and short sea operation by De Hoop Lobith Shipyard from the Netherlands by order of Socatra, takes the parts inland up to Langdon, after which they go by road transport to the assembling site in Toulouse. The present paper first describes the logistical chain highlighting the benefit of transport by sea and inland waterways such as the connection between Pauillac and Langdon. In the second part some areas of interest of each project are described. Special attention is given to the impact energy study investigating if the protection of the ancient bridge "Pont de Pierre" would be sufficient to withstand a collision with the Breuil.