Logistics group COLI has completed a six-month operation to move 14 large power transformers from a GE Vernova factory in Türkiye to the onshore site serving the Baltica 2 offshore wind farm in Poland. The cargo travelled on three separately chartered vessels across three voyages.
The transformers were collected at GE Vernova’s factory and loaded at Safiport in Derince. Ten units, weighing between 110 and 170 tonnes each, were discharged at the port of Gdynia and carried onward by road. The remaining four units, each weighing 361 tonnes, were barged to Władysławowo, where a roll-on/roll-off operation was carried out and a temporary storage area was set up while the site was prepared to receive them.
The land leg proved the harder part. Several bridges on the route could not carry the weight of the cargo, so temporary flyover structures were mounted on top of the existing crossings. The convoys ran through winter conditions with temperatures down to minus 15 degrees Celsius, and the movements had to be cleared with a series of Polish authorities. Five road convoys were needed in total, using self-propelled modular transporters and hydraulic axle lines with escorts of five to eight pilot vehicles.
“Moving 14 large and heavy units to the same site in three months in challenging conditions is not something any freight forwarder does every day,” said Felix Peinemann, managing director of COLI Group. Can Yılbaşı, business development manager at COLI Istanbul, which coordinated the project, said the work was completed through close cooperation between the two sides.
Baltica 2 is a 1.5 GW offshore wind farm being developed in the Polish Baltic by PGE Group and Ørsted. It is scheduled for commissioning in 2027 and will consist of 107 turbines. The transformer deliveries are part of the onshore infrastructure that will connect the farm to the Polish grid.
The operation is a reminder of how much of Poland’s offshore build-out depends on port and road capacity rather than offshore work alone. Gdynia and Władysławowo both handled parts of a single consignment, and the route inland had to be physically adapted before the heaviest units could move. For COLI, it was the second project carried out directly with GE Vernova’s team in Poland.
