A Word From GPLN:                                     Issue 83 / November-December 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a lot of disruption, but on a positive note the superyacht construction is surging. The transport of yachts has proven to be a lucrative niche market for some logistics companies. According to industry analyst Superyacht Group, orders for superyachts longer than 30 m rose over 8% in the first nine months of 2021 compared to the same period of 2019 before the pandemic. Over 200 new superyachts were launched this year up to the end of September, up from 165 in the same period of 2019. Furthermore, over 330 superyachts have been ordered to be delivered until 2023. The impact of the pandemic has helped generate new orders. The cost of a superyacht can range from USD10 million for a second-hand to USD600 million for a new one, industry figures show. Their handling and transportation require specialised skills and equipment and the steady growth in this sector will be another boost to forwarders and shipping lines active in this business.

In France, the offshore wind energy sector is also flourishing after getting off to a slow start. Ports and terminals have been readying themselves for an influx of cargoes, with major projects ramping up.
The UK market is buoyed up by dozens of power generation projects but some recent issues, including Brexit and driver shortages, is hampering an already fragile supply chain.
While renewable energy continues to be the lifeblood of the project logistics sector, those involved in non-renewable power projects remain confident on the sector’s medium and long-term prospects, due to the demand for electricity.
And regarding the Indian subcontinent, the hotly contested project market appears to be coming back into balance, having recovered from the pandemic disturbance.
In the Caribbean, large parts of the sector remain shackled, but contrary to many regions, the oil and gas sector continues to expand.

As announced earlier, our next year’s GPLN AGM is scheduled from May 20-22, 2022 at the Hilton Hotel in Rotterdam, just after Breakbulk Europe and ahead of our Heavy Lift Maritime and Transport seminar, so that attending delegates can combine all events in the same city. This is obviously subject that the world is back to normal by then.

Up to now almost 90 GPLN members have registered for our annual conference and several delegates for our seminar which is also available for non-GPLN members. All relevant details about these two events are published on our dedicated pages of our website.

For Breakbulk Europe we have secured a spacious GPLN booth (36 sqm) in the main hall and will be joined by 12 different GPLN member companies, namely: Agence Maritime Mohab/Tunisia, AZKA Shipping & Logistics/Iraq, Baltkonta/Lithuania, Brelog/Germany, Czechoslovak Ocean Shipping/ Czech Republic, Expo Freight/India, Falcon International/Canada, Global Union Alliance/Saudi Arabia, ITM Projects/Mexico, Kamor Logistics/Israel, Pishbar International Logistics/Iran and transmaritim international/Germany.

As this is our last newsletter for this year, we wish you all the best for 2022.
Stay safe and healthy!

Best regards,

Your GPLN team

TURK Logistics delivers transformers

For many years GPLN member Turk Logistics and Turk Heavy Transport have been continuously involved in the deliveries of transformers in the Kingdom of Bahrain.  On November 13, 2021, they have completed the delivery of 10 units of transformers from two different clients.

The shipment weight ranged from 143 tons to 205 tons. During the arrival of the shipment in Bahrain, the Turk team received the transformers from the ship hook and placed them on the stools support to complete the customs formalities.

On a later date it was rolled directly from the port to the barge and the same method was performed during discharge at the private jetty. From the private jetty to the project site cargo was transported by road using multi axle hydraulic lowbed. At the project site, the jacking and skidding methods were used to place the transformer on the pad.

There were two barging operations to complete the deliveries. When using a private jetty, the main challenges are the ministry’s approvals, and technical aspects play also a major role. Each barging operation required thorough and careful planning without compromising any safety.

TURK provides tailor-made solutions designed to move project cargo for companies involved in offshore oil and gas, petrochemical, power generation, constructions and other heavy industries.

SARR Freights handles railway coaches

Due to the extensive height of the cargo, the route posed various infrastructural issues and blocks. However, SARR worked with Indian authorities to ensure that clear paths were maintained for cargo safety, and the project was completed before the projected date. SARR Freights has worked for various companies in the railway industry before, with prior experience in the movement of railway coaches and equipment.

PROTRANSER handles multiple shipments

The total volume was 67500kgs / 67.5 CBM. The working scope included picking up empty ISO tanks, delivering them to the barge port in Nanjing after stuffing cargo in the factory (aach truck was equipped with an escort, according to standard requirement) and shipping to Gdynia, Poland via Shanghai port. Furthermore, Protranser delivered a 24.5 meters long buffer tank to Taicang port, East China. The dimension and weight were 24,5m x 38m x 39m and 27,740 kgs. The working scope included picking up cargo by multi-axle low-bed trailer at the factory in Zhangjiagang, around 100 km away from Taicang port, and delivered to port. The tank was discharged within one day after arriving at the port, which is not easy, especially during Covid period, but they did it with professional management and help of their client to save the cost.

Protranser’s team arranged also the delivery of various cargoes, such as three bulldozers from Tianjin to jobsite in DRC via Durban port for a mining project, as well as 365 tons seamless steel tubes from Shanghai to Vietnam and Korea by sea. The length of tubes was from 5.5 meters to 6 meters. 17 tons of them were stuffed in 2*20’GP, one of which was shipped to Vietnam and another one shipped to Korea. The rest of them were stuffed in 9*20’GP + 6*40’HQ, shipped to Korea in 1 lot; and also a set of CNC Double Column Vertical Turning and Milling Center with Fixed Crossrail from Shanghai to Vietnam by breakbulk vessel. The total volume was 553.63 CBM. The weight and dimension of the heaviest piece was 61,400 kgs and 15,86 x 28 x 30,6 meters. Working scope included port service in Shanghai and chartering service of breakbulk vessel from Shanghai to Ho Chi Minh City.

Total Movements delivers Super OD Cargo for Greenfield LNG Plant

GPLN member Total Movements from India successfully delivered a Super OD (diameter over 7 m) Solid Stainless Steel Recondenser for an LNG regasification terminal on the east coast of India. It was quite a complex movement which involved multiple legs as follows:

1. Road Transportation from the factory to nearby Jetty
2. Barge Transportation from Jetty to Nearest Major Seaport on the West Coast of India.
3. Sea Transportation by heavy lift vessel from load port to discharge port on the east coast of India.
4. Road Transportation from Discharge port to site.

Major challenges encountered were:

1. Mobilization of so many equipment’s to fulfill each leg.
2. Synchronization of multiple transportation legs.
3. Getting a suitable coastal tonnage in time for breakbulk shipping.
4. Lack of prior track record of handling heavy lift cargo at Discharge port.

They are happy to have delivered this cargo safely. A big shout out to all the stakeholders involved who played a key role to make this operation a grand success.

Megalift handles Oversized Dilapidated Hopper

Star Shipping is providing swift and top-notch logistics services

GPLN member Star Shipping from Pakistan has most recently handled an on-wheel equipment shipment comprising of 26 units “New Mixing Trucks” from China to Karachi Port (Pakistan) via Ro-Ro vessel. Weight and dimension: 10 tons, 6m x 3m x 3m. All 26 mixing trucks were received and rolled out from vessel to Karachi port’s berth by an expert team of Star Shipping Pakistan at Karachi. The aforesaid on-wheel equipment was delivered to the job site destination in Central Punjab via self-driven maneuver, within the lead-time. Special permission was obtained from the highway authorities to deliver the unregistered vehicles via National Highways/Motorways without any hassle.

Star Shipping provided also most recently (November, 2021) the complete erection and installation solution services at a job site in Daharki, Sindh, in Pakistan. The work-scope included the offloading of an over-dimensional vessel (weighing 150 tons), erection of the aforesaid O.D package via 2 Nos. of heavy crawler cranes including 450-tons American Hoist 11320 and 150-tons Sumitomo respectively and installation onto foundation. For every project cargo movement, Star Shipping brings the top minds for these challenging cargoes. The GPLN global network allows them a wide reach anywhere across the globe with reliable services. They have the expertise and equipment to cater to oversized cargoes

Golden Bull Award 2021 Outstanding SME

We are proud to present you with this year’s award winner for Outstanding SME in the Malaysia project logistics industry.

In a span of 14 years since the inception of TIL, their team has achieved in providing their clients with unique solutions, management, coordination and consultancy services which resulted in successful project logistics executions and substantial amounts of Tax Savings realized for each of their clients’ projects. TIL was also awarded the Malaysia Project Logistics Services Provider for the year 2019 by Frost & Sullivan based on their track records and unique services that they provide. TIL provides unique selling or proposal methods whereby they offer specialized solutions on project logistics management as well as indirect tax consultancy which gives their client an opportunity to realize cost savings by the millions for their projects which can be very capital intensive and this becomes their key selling point to a potential prospect.

We enthusiastically acknowledge and celebrate these achievements, and wish Trans International Logistiks Sdn Bhd great success in the future.