How to Get a Block Machine to Aleppo: Shipping, Unloading and Site Access

How to get a block machine to Aleppo is a question of weight and dimensions long before it becomes a question of paperwork. A QT4-15 weighs 6,200 kg and ships as one unit, a QST1800 weighs 34 t, and the static presses in our SQ series run 22 t to 43 t, so the first decision is whether your site can receive that weight and set it down in one piece. Weight and frame footprint decide the shipping method, the crane tonnage for unloading, and how much of the frame travels disassembled.

1. What do weight and frame size decide before anything else?

Two numbers fix the whole plan: total machine weight and frame outline. Our block machines start at 6,200 kg on the QT4-15 and step up through 12 t on the QST6-15, 14 t on the QST8-15, 17 t on the QST1200 and 20 t on the QST1500 to 34 t on the QST1800. The static press line is heavier for its output, running 22 t to 43 t across the SQ series. Installed power follows the same curve, from 22.9 kW to 104 kW, and rated pressure from 25 MPa to 31.5 MPa.

Frame outline decides the truck, the platform and the crane. The QST1200 and QST1500 occupy 11,500 x 4,550 x 2,800 mm, and the QST1800 occupies 15,500 x 5,500 x 3,200 mm before packing. No freight plan survives a wrong crane figure, so we ask for both numbers before quoting a route.

2. Can the main machine ship in one piece?

In most cases the frame and the hydraulic press body travel assembled, because splitting the frame means re-aligning it again on site. Shipping assembled is cheaper and safer when the receiving end has the lifting capacity: a 34 t machine standing 3,200 mm high needs a heavy lift at both ends, while a 6,200 kg machine can be set down with a forklift or a small crane. The question is the lifting capacity you can rent on the day the truck reaches your gate.

Weight is also an axle and handling question, not only a crane question. We ask for the heaviest single unit your site can receive, the heaviest load your handling equipment is rated for, and the width of the narrowest point on the path from the unloading spot to the foundation. Where the answer is a hard limit, the plan changes to partial dismantling instead of a bigger crane.

3. Which parts travel disassembled, and how are they packed?

Four groups normally ship separately: the electrical cabinets, the material hopper, the hydraulic cylinders with the vibration assembly, and the stacker. A low-position stacker such as the QS-1200A occupies 12,000 x 3,000 mm of floor and weighs 18,000 kg, so it is planned as its own load rather than as an accessory riding along with the main frame.

The electrical cabinet is crated and sealed against moisture, because humidity is the main risk on a sea leg and a corroded control cabinet costs more in site days than the crate costs at the factory. The hopper and the stacker frame travel as open frames or wrapped sections, and every crate is braced inside so nothing shifts with the roll of the vessel.

Spare parts and moulds travel with the machine, not after it. Moulds and pallets are the two items production cannot start without, so if they arrive in a second shipment the machine stands installed and idle. We load the first mould set, the pallet order and the running spare kit in the same shipment as the main frame.

4. What has to be ready at the site before the truck arrives?

Start with the unloading equipment, booked rather than assumed. A machine between 20 t and 34 t needs a crane sized above the load with a known radius, plus a forklift or telehandler for the crated parts, while a machine in the 12 t to 14 t band can be handled with a smaller crane and a heavy forklift. Book it for unloading, staging and the move to the foundation, not for the lift alone.

Second, the approach: the turning radius at your site gate, the overhead clearance under cables and pipes, and the ground bearing along the path from gate to foundation. Third, lifting points: we mark the slinging positions on the frame, and the rigging team needs them before the load is in the air. Fourth, the foundation. If the concrete is still curing when the machine lands, the machine sits on timber pads until it can be grouted.

Tell us which of those four is not ready and we build the shipping sequence around it, instead of shipping a load into a site that cannot receive it.

5. How much do landing costs add on top of the machine price?

Sea freight, insurance, port handling and inland transport commonly add 15% to 40% on top of the machine price, and the share each item takes follows the route rather than the model. Budget from the heaviest item backwards: weight drives the crane and truck lines, volume drives the container or flat rack line. A freight rate per ton alone ignores lifting, waiting time and the second move from the yard to the site.

Cash timing matters as much as the total. Landing charges fall due in several separate payments to different parties, so hold the freight budget until the landing bill is settled and the equipment is standing on your foundation. We price the machine line only, because freight is priced on your destination and nobody can price it honestly from the factory gate.

6. Which five details lock the plan in one pass?

We cannot fix a shipping or unloading plan without five details from you: the destination port, the unloading conditions there and at your site, the site access including the narrowest point and the turning radius at the gate, your site voltage and frequency, and the block type you plan to produce. Our machines are built to 380 V / 50 Hz as standard and we match the electrical package to your supply.

With those five answered, one shipment can be planned end to end: which items travel assembled and which go in crates, the crane tonnage needed at your end, the pallet and mould set that must arrive in the first container, and whether the foundation is ready before the machine lands.

• Assembled load: main frame, hydraulic press body and, where the frame is not split, the vibration assembly, travelling as one heavy lift with the slinging points marked and the crane tonnage confirmed before loading.
• Crated load: electrical cabinets sealed against moisture, sensors, hydraulic seals, drive components and small spares, braced inside each crate so nothing shifts during the sea leg.
• First-shipment items: the first mould set, the pallet order and the running spare kit, because production cannot start without them and a second shipment leaves the machine installed but idle.