Aribas Printing Machinery Buys Machine Park in Iceland

No path is too far, no project too challenging – this time our Aribas’ team
is working on the island state in the North Atlantic.

In addition to large offset machines and a die cutter, Aribas Printing Machinery has also purchased web and finishing machines and accessories from the Icelandic printing company. Everything has to be professionally dismantled and packed for transport to start the journey in the respective containers.

The package includes a total of 16 presses – including a Heidelberg CD 102-6 + LX, a manroland 704 3B SW, a Bobst SP 102 E, and also more exotic and popular models such as the perfect binder, Kolbus KM 473 32 or the Harris M600 web offset press from Heidelberg.

It is certainly a greater challenge to dismantle, pack and prepare a machine park in Iceland for transport to different countries than for example on the mainland in Europe – especially during dark, cold winter months.

The island in the harsh north is by nature a challenge. There are a number of things that have to be planned and considered beforehand to ensure that such a large-scale project runs smoothly.
For example, wood is scarce on the island. However, it is needed for pallets and as machine floors so that machines and accessories can survive the journey in the shipping container and the goods arrive undamaged at our worldwide destinations.

Iceland is rather barren and has no forests of its own, which means that the required wood has to be imported at high cost. Only driftwood, which is washed up on the coast, is available to Icelanders. The logs that hit the coast in the south and west, mostly come from the Brazilian rain forests and are carried by the Gulf Stream – those in the north and east come from the forests of Siberia and reach Iceland via the North Atlantic Stream.

It was therefore worth considering whether it would not be more cost-effective to deliver the wood required by the dismantling team to Iceland in advance, given the entire machine park.
Also, the required and tested packaging material or certain special tools are not necessarily available on site – thorough planning is therefore essential.

Due to years of experience in the worldwide trade with used printing machines, the project, which is still in progress, has been mastered without any difficulties so far.
By the end of May 2020, all machines are to be dismantled and loaded and the project in Iceland is to be completed.