deugro Air Chartering Delivers Time Critical Project Cargo for a Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Plant to Maintain Production Processes
deugro executed the project, with a cargo volume of 810 cubic meters and a total weight of 209 metric tons, on schedule, even though cargo measurements were provided at the last minute.
deugro Hanau, deugro Air Chartering in Frankfurt am Main, and deugro China collaborated to organize and carry out the timely delivery of steel components from Cairo, Egypt to Changshu, China. The components, including steel beams and angles of different sizes, were urgently needed in China to keep the manufacturing schedule of air cooler modules and to maintain the timelines of the end client. Therefore, deugro was to deliver the urgent cargo the fastest way possible: By air freight.
All transport arrangements had to be made while the cargo was still in production, meaning the final dimensions and weights could not be confirmed until production was finished. Upon completion, the cargo was needed at the project site as early as possible. deugro’s experts analyzed the condition and packing of the steel structures and identified that extensive repacking work needed to be performed in advance to enable the safe transportation of the goods by air. Therefore, to avoid lateral or vertical shifting, the bundles of different sizes and shapes were secured inside bespoke designed timber packaging. Additionally, all cargo packages also had to be reinforced by wooden stiffeners and spacers on both ends of the bundles to prevent longitudinal sliding.
Together with its contracted Egyptian partner, deugro arranged the required repacking at the packing facility and the coordination with the manufacturer as well as with the airport cargo handling agent. To keep the tight timeline, the repacking work was performed around the clock. In addition to deugro’s high quality and safety standards, the carrier’s loadmaster inspected the cargo packing to ensure it met all the requirements for safe stowage and lashing.
Within less than two weeks, 131 bundles of steel structures were repacked into 116 packages, allowing the safe stowage and lashing for transportation by air. Based on the assessment of the dimensions and the amount of steel structures to be transported, the deugro Air Chartering team selected and secured the optimal air freight solution: Three full charters using a Boeing 747-8F with nose-loading capability, ideally suited for the long items that needed to be transported. deugro’s close relationship with the carrier allowed the company to secure the aircraft in spite of the busy market and limited aircraft availability in times of COVID-19.
The steels structures were flown from Cairo International Airport in Egypt to Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport in China within the course of five days, in three flights, each with a transit time of only 12 hours and including a technical stop in Russia. The date of each flight was planned in accordance with the completion date for the cargo to be released from the manufacturing and repacking teams. Upon the cargo’s arrival at Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport, deugro China arranged for its safe and on-time delivery to the project site using 14 trailers. Thanks to deugro’s experts and their approved and qualified subcontractors, the project schedule, including the shortened time span, could be kept.
“This is a great example of cooperation and great teamwork across the deugro offices, which used their worldwide network to serve and support their clients in challenging situations, helping them to meet their targets and tight deadlines. Our client expressed their thanks and recognition of deugro’s team for the dedication and high performance,” said Pavel Kuznetsov, Head of Air Chartering, deugro Airfreight GmbH.
