Working with Turkish structural steel suppliers ensures that high quality structural steel components will be manufactured and delivered on time, with the added guarantee of cost savings. Outsourcing to a low cost country is becoming a necessity in today’s ultra competitive world. However, purchasing managers should display extreme caution when selecting a structural steel fabricator in a low cost country. Turkish structural steel fabricators prove to be reliable.
Taking shipment costs in account in the design of structural steel cannot be overlooked. Heavy steel components used for a bridge, tunnel shaft, building’s frame or similar project are typically designed uniquely, on a project-by-project basis. Often the functionality of the design receives more attention than the costs of actually fabricating, shipping and erecting the structural steel. This results in higher than necessary costs for far too many projects.
With proper planning by incorporating cost-saving elements within structural steel design unnecessary costs can be avoided. It is important to leverage the support of a design team that understands the intricate relationship between a component’s size and shape, and the final shipping costs that will result. An experienced engineer should already know what to expect.
Overall material lengths, widths, depths, and especially weights will have a direct impact on the total freight costs. The ease of transporting structural steel can be restricted by the permitting authorities within the region of delivery. For this reason, structural steel components are usually delivered unassembled in many small pieces. These pieces are then assembled at the final job site.
Ensuring each structural steel component is the maximize size possible is a vital part of keeping costs under control. Although it varies greatly by region, certain dimensions tend to hold as the maximum length before substantial, non-exponential shipping cost increases can be expected. For this reason, structural steel fabrications should not exceed 3.17 meters in length, 2.43 meters in depth, or 3.65 meters in width. In terms of weight, 36.28 metric tons tends to serve as the cut-off for cost-effectively delivering structural steel to most parts of the world. Therefore, each component of a structural steel assembly should not exceed any of the aforementioned dimensions or weight.
As any structural steel components’ overall dimensions increase beyond the limits mentioned above, the incremental freight costs can rise exponentially. The maximum allowable shipping dimensions will vary greatly based on the geographical location where the steel is to be delivered. When determining the feasibility of truck delivery, issues such as road conditions, access, bridge analysis, overhead clearances, and turning radius can all impact the decision process. In most areas, government agencies provide information to determine the limitations of sizes based on road clearances and similar blockages. While such information is vital, it does not provide the design team with many clues on how to save money on shipping costs. Much more research is required.
Typically, government agencies charge a special fee for “wide load” deliveries via cargo truck. Also, additional fees are charged by logistics partners when items require special care due to excessive size or weight. However, these fees can be estimated ahead of time by the logistic companies. Experienced engineers will contact the logistic firms before initiating the design of structural steel components.
