And when the cargo weighs 17,300 tonnes, that kind of meticulous planning is essential. Every detail, every gram, every millimetre of rope can impact a project of this scale.

The reason for such vigilance? Nothing less than the largest floating drydock ever built in Türkiye.

Floating drydocks are U-shaped mobile structures used in the maritime industry to repair and maintain vessels, especially those with damage below the waterline. The advantage of floating drydocks is that they are not fixed in one place and can be moved to different locations for better accessibility. By submerging beneath a vessel and then deballasting, they lift ships out of the water for service. As most drydocks do not have engines, they must be towed to their designated locations.

Kuehne+Nagel was entrusted with the transport of this drydock by General Dynamics NASSCO, an American shipbuilding and repair company. The task sounded simple: move the floating drydock from the shipyard in Yalova, where it was built, to NASSCO’s shipyard in San Diego, USA.

“For our team, the project began the moment the mooring ropes securing the drydock to the dock were released," continues Aliye Erkan Bıyık. "Once freed, the drydock was towed by four tugboats into open waters, in preparation for loading onto a larger vessel that would carry it to its final destination, San Diego.”

Manoeuvring a 17,300-tonne drydock measuring over 253 metres in length, 54 metres in width, and 21 metres in height is no easy task.

Four tugboats pulled the drydock and carefully positioned it at the stern of BOKA Vanguard, one of the largest semi-submersible heavy-lift ships in the world, owned by maritime services provider Boskalis. With a length of 275 metres and a width of over 75 metres, BOKA Vanguard is capable of transporting some of the heaviest and largest structures, including those that are larger than the vessel itself.

“Thanks to the submersible capabilities of BOKA Vanguard, the support of tugboats, and the supervision of the mooring crew and Kuehne+Nagel’s engineering team aboard the drydock, we were able to safely position and lash the structure onto the vessel,” explains Aliye. “The process of securing the drydock was not rushed and took several days: every centimetre, every millimetre had to be double-checked. We also had additional support boats on standby to shuttle crew and engineers between the port, the drydock, and the carrier ship.”

After three days of intense operations, the floating drydock was secured aboard BOKA Vanguard, ready to embark on its 13,500-nautical-mile journey, crossing both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and braving storms with waves reaching up to 20 metres. Due to its size, BOKA Vanguard could not pass through the Panama Canal.

The complexity of the project was truly extraordinary. On the surface, it might sound like a simple heavy-lift job, transporting oversized cargo from Yalova to San Diego. But the cargo measured in hundreds of metres and thousands of tonnes, without engines to move it between the locations, between the continents? That’s something completely different. It took months of planning, designing, measuring, calculating, checking, and then re-checking, re-calculating, to ensure the two sea giants could become one and sail safely.

Bon voyage, BOKA Vanguard.

We will see you in San Diego, where our Kuehne+Nagel USA team awaits to oversee the final delivery to our customer.

Stay tuned!

Kuehne+Nagel enhances the connectivity between Europe and Türkiye within its groupage network to reduce lead times. Türkiye is an important trade partner for the EU, and their industries are becoming more connected. This nearshoring trend increases the demand for reliable road logistics. 

As a response, Kuehne+Nagel has introduced four new direct line hauls from Türkiye to Europe, with multiple departures per week, covering most European countries. It leverages cross-docking hubs in Austria, Germany and France for optimal connectivity and efficiency, and competitive lead times. 

Ali Bener, Head of Road Logistics for the Middle East and Africa, states: "As trade relations between Türkiye and Europe grow, businesses need reliable and fast road freight services. Our new setup with additional line hauls, improved lead times and pan-European coverage will particularly benefit customers with flows from Türkiye to multiple European destinations. 

Kuehne+Nagel can be their single logistics provider managing and optimising all these flows. On top, customers enjoy shipment visibility and easy online booking through our digital self-service platform, myKN, which is included as a standard part of our service." 

Sanofi, a leading healthcare company with a presence in 90 countries worldwide, partners with Kuehne+Nagel for fulfilment, handling, and value-added services for pharmaceutical and consumer health products in Türkiye.

To enhance the efficiency of processes related to warehousing, handling, and value-added services such as serialisation and inking, Sanofi in Türkiye entrusts Kuehne+Nagel with managing the facility in Tuzla, on the outskirts of Istanbul.

Currently, Sanofi operates an 11,000 sqm facility equipped with temperature-controlled rooms (15-25°C), cold rooms (2-8°C), restricted access zones, quarantine areas, and more. With a storage capacity of up to 4,200 pallets of healthcare and consumer health products, the facility ensures timely delivery to patients across Türkiye.

“Our purpose at Sanofi is to improve people’s lives around the world, by chasing the miracles of science. In line with this mission, we sought a trusted partner to deliver reliable 3PL warehousing logistics services, allowing us to focus on our core business. Sanofi’s successful collaborations with Kuehne+Nagel in other countries reinforced our confidence in choosing them as our partner in Türkiye,” says Cem Öztürk, Sanofi Eurasia MCO Lead.

“We are thrilled to take on the operation of Sanofi’s facility in Tuzla. Our partnership is built on a shared commitment to delivering healthcare products and consumer goods to patients efficiently and with the quality they deserve,” concludes Matthias Blan, Managing Director of Kuehne+Nagel Türkiye.

Kuehne+Nagel supports Sanofi in multiple countries worldwide, including Hungary, the UK, and the UAE, by providing customised fulfilment services.

Menarini, a leading international pharmaceutical company, partners with Kuehne+Nagel for distribution services of pharma goods across Türkiye. Menarini leverages Kuehne+Nagel’s vast experience in handling sensitive healthcare products and the extensive local presence to secure the continuous availability of Menarini’s products.

To ensure the availability and convenient access to healthcare products for patients country-wide, Kuehne+Nagel provides local road logistics solutions. These solutions include transporting approximately 3,500 FTLs (full truckloads) and around 800,000 parcels of LCLs (less-than-truckloads) of healthcare products between Menarini's warehouse in Hadımköy, Istanbul and wholesalers nationwide. 

Additionally, Kuehne+Nagel provides storage services for some of Menarini's non-healthcare-related goods, which equal approximately 300 pallet positions stored in the Gebze facility in Kocaeli.

Menarini, headquartered in Florence, is currently present in 140 countries. The Menarini Group operates nine research and development centres and 18 manufacturing sites and produces over 500 million packs of medication.

"The product quality delivered to the end consumer, the patient, is a priority for Menarini. We were looking for a logistics partner who can assure the integrity and safety of the products, timely and efficient distribution, and we knew we could put trust in Kuehne+Nagel's global experience in handling healthcare and consumer goods," said Cenk Balcı, General Manager Menarini Türkiye.

"We are excited to support Menarini in delivering their healthcare products across Türkiye. Our experience in handling sensitive goods, backed by the network of best-in-class facilities equipped to provide optimal storing conditions, allows Menarini to focus on their growth whilst we take care of their complex distribution needs," concluded Matthias Blan, Managing Director Kuehne+Nagel Türkiye. 

Kuehne+Nagel in Türkiye provides tailored sea, air, road and project logistics services and operates over 100,000 sqm of state-of-the-art warehousing facilities with over  45,000 sqm dedicated to healthcare products.