A Word From GPLN:

We hope that you have started the New Year well and that this will be a successful year for all of you. 

Unfortunately, we are currently facing again a global health emergency with the rapid spread of the Coronavirus, after the SARS epidemic which affected 26 countries and resulted in more than 8,000 cases in 2003. Both viruses originate from China, however the number of infected humans from this coronavirus is spreading more rapidly and resulted so far in over 70,000 cases (as of mid of Feb 2020), but most of them on mainland China and only a few in other countries. Like many of you, we are carefully watching and analyzing the acceleration of infections and geographical spread of the Coronavirus as this is also affecting our travel arrangements. In the meantime, various airlines from all continents stopped flying to China until end of March 2020. At the time of writing we are therefore not sure if we will participate in Breakbulk Asia which should take place in March in Shanghai. However, we have full confidence that our upcoming Annual General Meeting in Casablanca/Morocco will take place as scheduled from May 31 to June 2, 2020, but will also carefully monitor the situation and keep you updated.

As announced earlier our AGM will be held just after the Breakbulk Europe exhibition in Bremen which is taking place from May 26-28, 2020 and we are confident that we will reach again a high attendance, as a multitude of members have already signed up for this meeting. Right on the day Breakbulk Bremen starts in the evening, on May 26, we are organizing again our renowned Heavy Lift Maritime and Transport Seminar at the Dorint Park Hotel which is located within walking distance to the exhibition center. This technical course is also open for non GPLN members and offers a great opportunity to learn more about Heavy Lift Shipping and expand technical abilities and knowledge for project cargo business.

Last year we attended several logistics and industry events across the globe and many times we shared our booth with GPLN members. Our traveling season starts this year in February with Breakbulk Middle East in Dubai, and thereafter in May Breakbulk Europe will take place in Bremen. We have secured again a very spacious GPLN booth in the main hall at Breakbulk Europe and will be joined by GPLN member companies from 12 different countries. The traveling season comes to an end in early October with Breakbulk Americas in Houston.

We look forward to see you all at our annual conference in Casablanca and at many logistics events during this year.

Your GPLN Team

We welcome the following new GPLN members:

AMI’s Middle East project team handles various shipments

AMI’s Middle East project team, a member of GPLN, was handling recently an import from Japan and export to Iraq, besides a project shipment from Belgium to UAE for a government project and another project for their valuable O+Gcustomers for their project in Nigeria. Furthermore, AMI’s Mozambique team performed a crane transportation out of a Beira warehouse.AMI’s projects department has extensive technical and engineering skills to ensure that every aspect of a project has been taken into consideration. Highly specialized shipments require a great degree of transport planning, from origin to destination. At AMI, they have developed strong expertise in this segment. Their extensive network, skilled teams and years of experience enable them to handle all types of heavy, Break Bulk and OOG cargo.

The scope of work of JSC «DAKOTRANS» included the delivery of the reactor from the place of production to the river berth, followed by transshipment to the barge and delivery to the port of Nizhnekamsk, 17 km away from which the delivery place was located. The river berth was located near St. Petersburg. The total distance from the loading site to the port was 16 km, with several 90-degree turns, the passage of which was carefully planned due to the large size of the cargo. There were also two railway crossings on the selected delivery route, which required special permits and additional works to close the railway track. A police escort would have been engaged as the closure of the roads was required for the duration of cargo passage. Upon reaching the river berth, the reactor was loaded on the barge Ro/Ro, which was to deliver this cargo to the port of Nizhnekamsk. The total distance between the ports was about 2,000 km, which the barge covered in 12 days. Specialized equipment was used to transport this large reactor at each stage of the delivery process, both for the movement on the ground sections of the route and for loading and lashing on the barge. This transportation was one of the most challenging and exciting for JSC “DAKOTRANS”, which was given considerable preparation time, and the results were excellent as the transportation went smoothly.

Polaris handles several project shipments

GPLN member Polaris projects was busy closing December 2019 with completing several project shipments including a part charter, air freight and Ro/Ro freight deliveries. They recently completed door delivery of approx. 2000 MT/ 7200 CBM project cargo of construction equipment from Port Mazatlan, Mexico to Hamriyah yard, Sharjah in United Arab Emirates which they worked in partnership with their GPLN colleagues in Turkey – SNS International. As shipment arrived on MV BBC California, operated by BBC Chartering, Polaris projects division had full control of the operation and completed this shipment to the full satisfaction of the receivers. Polaris closely coordinated this task with the Port Authorities to ensure that all formalities were completed prior to vessel’s arrival, to ensure direct receiving of entire units directly on to their positioned trailers ex under hook to avoid multiple handling. Their operation team at receivers site ensured that discharge of units from trailers had been coordinated in time to ensure that vessel was fed with enough trailers to receive units as fast as vessel can discharge. Polaris also secured a door to door movement of around 80 unused soil compactors with shipment to complete in 10 lots ex supplier in Gujarat to Jebel Ali receivers’ yard. The first lot of 8 units with its accessories was connected on Mv Hoegh Kunsan to the Port of Mumbai. Polaris scope included the complete coordination with the supplier and execution of the shipment to Jebel Ali, UAE, and door delivery to receivers’ site. Polaris also handled a time sensitive project shipment of a gas turbine ex Santiago de Chile by GPLN colleagues in USA, Dynamo Weltweit Logistic, to receiver’s door in Abu Dhabi, UAE, for repairs. The gas turbine with shipping dimensions of (L x W x H) 5.93 x 2.69 x 2.87 m –and a weight of17,615 Kgs, was booked with Cargolux Airlines ex Santiago and was delivered to the receiver on schedule.

Cargo Way Logistics Handles Monster Trucks

GPLN member Cargo Way Logistics from Brazil handled the Monster Jam show last December, that took place at the Allianz Park in São Paulo, Brazil. The team coordinated full logistics for 8 monster trucks, tires and extra equipment that made possible a memorable night for more than 25,000 people. Temporary admission, trucking to site, unstuffing and its reverse logistics, preparing all the cargo and providing re-exportation by sea where all provided with astonishing precision on an operation that demanded a challenging schedule. “On-site handling and coordination are key for this sensitive material and Cargo Way was once again proud to meet the expectation raised by our customers” said Diego Donadio – Cargo Way director.

Turk Logistics & Turk Heavy Transport appointed by BAPCO

GPLN member Turk Logistics & Turk Heavy Transport has been awarded all the OOG road haulage and bulk cargo for the ongoing Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) modernization project as subcontractor to Fagioli. Bulk & OOG movements started in December 2019 and the project is expected for completion in 2022. Turk provides complete port-to-door logistics solutions. Services includes road permissions, escort arrangements as well as road-works along the route to make the passage of trucks possible. All OOG cargo will be received from ship hook on hydraulic low-bed trailers at KBS Port and will be placed in temporary storage on stools support. At a later date, the cargo will be jacked up and down onto hydraulic low bed trailers and transported to the final destination. The unloading operations at the site will be performed with the same method jack down on stools. Experts in project logistics, Turk provides tailor-made solutions designed to move project cargo for companies involved in offshore oil and gas, petrochemical, power generation, construction and other heavy industries. Turk Logistics and Heavy Transport is a reliable, professional partner for projects in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The plant components impressed with their dimensions, heat exchanger number 1 weighed a whopping 118.4 tons with a length of 22.43 meters, a width of 2.88 meters and a height of 3.21 meters. Heat exchanger 2 – at 59.85 tons almost a light weight – was “only” 10.39 meters long, but 3.89 meters wide and 4.5 meters high. The two cargoes were driven in a convoy. The pressure vessel was transported separately to the first destination with its impressive dimensions: 8.06 meters in length, 3.34 meters wide, 4.32 meters high and a weight of 50.8 tons. In Bratislava, the heat exchangers and pressure vessels were transferred to inland waterway vessels. Via the Rhine-Main-Danube waterway we went to the second stop, the seaport of Antwerp. Despite barely ideal levels of the river, the cargo reached the Transfennica terminal in the port part of Kallo on time. From here, the customer took over the onward journey by sea to St. Petersburg and on the road to a chemical company in Russia.

Universal Transport moves Berlin’s most famous Christmas tree

Since the end of November, Berlin’s most famous Christmas tree has been where it belongs: in the middle of the “Pariser Platz” by the Brandenburg Gate. Again, GPLN member Universal Transport made sure it was delivered on time this year. The truck reached its destination in the heart of the capital with the 17.5-metre-high and 4.5-ton grand fir or “Abies Grandis” from the Thuringian Forest. The heavy-duty specialists had taken about four hours to complete the 300-kilometre-long route from the Thuringian Birkenhuegel, a district of the municipality of Rosenthal on the Rennsteig. The 50-year-old privately owned tree was cut and professionally secured on the low-loader two days earlier. “In order for the giant tree to shine in its whole glory, its branches are carefully wrapped by the specialists of our partner ‘Tannen-Wulf’, this also protects the tree from any weather-related damages. 

These modules are amongst the biggest, heaviest Boiler & HRSG modules delivered anywhere in the world. LSPL was involved with Thermax since the bidding stage for study of transport engineering of the modules from their yard in Mundra to the port of Mundra and then to be rolled on to RORO ships. The transport arrangement being unique for each equipment taking account of the various safety modalities of wind force due to module heights, stability of the modules, route per axle load and the port per sq.mt deck load. During the transport LSPL mobilized a total of 120 self-propelled axles with 5 PPU as the transport required axles in various configuration as seen in chart above. The FGSG modules were the heaviest ever to be transported in Mundra weighing at 1200 tons over the Nevinal canal. For the first time in India 5 files trailers (2½ axles) were used for transport of cargo in India as the UB modules were heavy in the center and required to spread load for safe transport. The HRSG modules the tallest ever were very slender the height of the modules was 22 m requiring extension of transport beam such that the width of the module was increased for safe transport. The client nominated 3 vessels first in April and second in October 2019. For the first vessel a total of 7 modules were to be loaded out, Second Vessel was to carry 5 modules and Third vessel was to carry 6 modules. The operation was planned such that each day 1 module would be loaded in stern on position and then for the few modules the ship would wait for the CB berth to load the equipment. A first in all aspects for Adani port, Thermax and LSPL.

Through simultaneous logistic operations, the company accomplished installing the winter spectacle in three different cities: Cali, Medellin, and Bogota.This project was a big challenge as it required special transport equipment, strategy, organization of load planning, warehouse facilities and transport punctuality. Because of this remarkable effort, hundreds of kids and adults were able to enjoy a magnificent Disney show. One specific type of special requirement this project required were Flat Rack containers. The ice needed to create the stage was loaded into ReeferContainers and subsequently loaded on those flat racks. Day in day out, Consolcargo SAS works with a capable team that is specifically trained to carry out these kinds of operations. We strive to minimize risks, delays and any extra costs while reaching the customers’ expectations and fulfilling their needs.

EGL completes jacking / skidding of 3 transformers

On the 27th January 2020, GPLN member Egyptian Global Logistics (EGL), a subsidiary of KADMAR GROUP, completed jacking/skidding of 3 transformers (116 tons each) for SIEMENS in Abu Qir Substations.  

The site was located about 60 km from Alexandria city. It was a quite challenging operation which was performed and completed despite the difficult conditions. One of the most difficult was that the transformers had to be rotated 90 degrees before being installed on the foundations. The operation area was only 6.5 meters width, without ground pulling eyes.

Thanks to the EGL Project team for cooperation. EGL continues to impress the market with well-trained staff along with the latest fleet equipment and technology in Egypt. EGL achieved this success through careful planning without sacrificing safety aspects.

We had to reload the hammer on a heavy lift platform trailer due to safety regulations of the ferry, thereafter it went on a smooth voyage till the site. In this project were also some other important parts involved. Again some ‘fantastic’ work from all parties involved, especially a big thanks to fellow GPLN member Hannational Shipping for supporting us on this one.

Al- Bader Shipping completed also the movement of six 40′ Open Top containers, three 45′ High Cube containers and three 40′ High Cube containers which were carrying the main body of one crane along with booms and other accessories. The gross weight per container was approximately 27 tons. The job was to organize transportation from the Clean Fuel Project site in Mina Abdullah, Kuwait, to the port in Singapore. The customer expected comprehensive service, inclusive of picking up the cargo from the site, stuffing of the containers, customs clearance, survey report for insurance, and transportation to Singapore. In addition to the last 12 containers that were shipped to Singapore, Al-Bader Shipping also moved the main body of the crane loaded onto a MAFI trailer on a RO-RO vessel, whilst the 12 containers were shipped on a regular container vessel as dully agreed with both the shipper and consignee. The Ro/Ro shipment of the crane was moved from a project site in Kuwait to the port in Singapore. The crane weighed 40,823 kgs with measurements of (L x W x H) 12.35 x 3.9 x 3.64m. The customs clearance was completed within 24 hours, followed by the permission for the vessel to be berthed at Shuwaikh Port as soon as it reached Kuwaiti waters without delay, taking also into consideration that there was limited time from the previous port to Shuwaikh.

With speedy documentation, extensive planning and a well-defined process, the entire shipment was brought to the port and loaded onto the RoRo vessel within a record time of 3 days before it set sail to the port of Singapore.