On 11 December 2013, Managing Director Wolfgang Zappel traveled to the conference center at Baghdad Airport. His aim was to sign the supply contract with the director of the Iraqi Republic Railways Company IRR and the representatives of the Iraqi Ministry of Transportation.
The contract included the construction and delivery of ten Unimog road/rail vehicles equipped with bodywork and special rerailing equipment which are intended to serve as rescue vehicles on the IRR’s railway network.
Ten Unimog U400 with Euro 3 engine (170 kW / 231 HP) served as base vehicles. They were manufactured in series at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth and delivered to ZAGRO’s workshop in Grombach where the road/rail equipment was installed subsequently. For the bodywork and the tool compartment for stowing of the rerailing equipment ZAGRO worked closely together with GMEINDER LOKOMOTIVEN at their production site in Mosbach.
In the course of production and assembly several inspections by German test institutes and delegations from Baghdad were required. The technicians sent by the IRR carried out detailed acceptance testing and certifications on the finished vehicles at the site in Mosbach.
In addition, ZAGRO organized multiple-day trainings regarding base vehicle, road/rail equipment and rerailing equipment for the Iraqi mechanics who will later be responsible for maintenance and repair of the rescue vehicles on-site.
In August, the first three rescue vehicles were transported by RORO ship from Bremerhaven to Umm Qasr seaport in Iraq in a six-week voyage. The customer took receipt of them with a ritual according to local customs at IRR’s main distribution center in Baghdad in September.
The seven vehicles for the second partial delivery were transported to Bremerhaven just before Christmas 2014. Shipment was however delayed because the vessel intended for the transport ran aground off the coast of southern England. Thus, the vehicles were loaded only in January and the ship landed at the port of destination Umm Qasr in February 2015. A delegation of the IRR carried out the inspection on-site and organized the onward transport on rails to Baghdad. All ten vehicles are now ready for distribution to the respective locations in Iraq and for rescue operation.
The organizational handling of this major contract over a period of one and a half years was outstanding compared to the daily business and required extraordinary effort. ZAGRO therefore is particularly delighted about the successful completion of this supply contract.
