This week's round up of news from the world of heavy lift and project forwarding.
Using a project cargo shipping contract for illustration, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) this week warned of new charter party fraud incidents and advised that all counterparties be investigated before deals are carried out.
Although the warning may be seen as a move by IMB to advertise its Chartering Experience Programme, nevertheless the caution is still pertinent.
The risks of entering into transactions that involve many brokers and intermediaries, that have not been individually checked before fixture negotiations begin, are to be considered carefully.
This week also saw the official agreement of the merger between Hapag-Lloyd and CSAV, which will create the fourth largest liner shipping company in the world.
This week's Friday Flyer is sponsored by Liebherr Maritime Cranes, which offers a perfectly balanced portfolio of innovative heavy lift solutions. The state-of-the-art mobile harbour crane range has a maximum lifting capacity of up to 208 tonnes and even up to 416 tonnes in tandem operation. Liebherr's heavy-duty deck cranes provide lifting capacities of up to 450 tonnes.
In the corporate world
Despite reports in the international media claiming that the Ukrainian Government had fired Dmitry Kiva from the company, Antonov has confirmed that he remains president and general designer of Antonov.
Loomis AB entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares in VIA MAT Holding.
Cory Logistics established a joint venture with Navarm Limited - Cory-Navarm - to serve the nuclear newbuild industry.
ENTREC reduced its expectations regarding revenues for 2014, blaming lower levels of equipment utilisation.
Wasa Logistics is to change its official name to DSV Air & Sea Projects Oy (DSV Projects Finland) on May 1, 2014.
Capacity developments
Panhandle Steel Erectors expanded its fleet with the addition of a 160-tonne capacity Tadano ATF 130G-5 (pictured right).
Moh Seng Cranes took delivery of the first Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1 mobile crane in Southeast Asia.
Euro Marine Logistics (EML) started a weekly service connecting Zeebrugge with Gothenborg, Drammen and the Port of Tyne.
Shipments of the week
Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC) received five units of infrastructure equipment, with a combined weight of 3,367 tonnes - the largest and longest heavy lift cargoes it claims ever to have handled in the Abu Dhabi Free Port (pictured top right).
Omega Morgan transported three 158-tonne heat exchangers from Portland to Fort McMurray utilising the company's own high-frame, dual-lane trailer (pictured second right).
Guangdong LIFT Engineering Machinery Co (GPEC) was contracted by Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry to transport a 3,200-tonne bridge section on 100 axle lines of Tianjie SPMTs for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge project (pictured third right).
R&B Global Projects arranged the shipment of 23 prefabricated modules on a chartered vessel from Antwerp to Djibouti, from where the cargo will delivered to Addis Ababa.
Other notable projects reported by HLPFI this week can be seen on the archive news area of our website.
Got some shipment news of your own? Send it in to editorial@heavyliftpfi.com
Projects and contracts
A consortium made up of Technip and Heerema Marine Contractors secured a USD3.5 billion contract from Total E&P Angola, to deliver the engineering, procurement, construction, installation (EPCI) and pre-commissioning for the SURF part of the Kaombo project, located in Block 32 offshore Angola.
AREVA was awarded a contract by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) for the supply and the replacement of six stators for the Kori Nuclear Power Plant.
Petrofac, in consortium with Siemens, was awarded a major contract from TenneT for the construction and offshore installation of the BorWin3 platform in the North Sea.
For a fuller round up of projects and contracts announced this week please visit the HLPFI website or contact David Kershaw
On the move
Marcus Cebulla will be joining the Logwin Group's executive committee on October 1, 2014. ClassNK established a new survey office in Belem, Brazil, while TT Club appointed Del Rosario Pandiphil as its network partner in the Philippines. Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) appointed Chris Crookal (pictured top right) vice president of the its liner division, in addition to opening a new Venezuelan branch in Puerto La Cruz. Just seven months after he joined Coyne Airways as managing director, John Batten is leaving the airline and Liana Coyne (pictured bottom right) has been named as chief operating officer.
Network news
Bolloré Africa Logistics was appointed a member of the Cargo Equipment Experts (CEE) network in Uganda, while the Project Cargo Network (PCN) added Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) Algeria to its ranks. Mexico's Henco Global and the UAE's Sabelatrans Shipping Global FZE became the latest members to join the XLProjects (XLP) network. HLPFI is looking forward to attending the SC&RA's annual conference next week and meeting readers of the magazine and Friday Flyer who may happen to be at the event.
All about Evie
Evie was excited by an unconventional heavy lift operation this week, which involved the hoisting of a million-year-old female mammoth skeleton out of a Serbian coal mine.
She was also impressed by the Woodland Group's recent partnership with SOS Kit Aid, which will see the company handle all aspects of the charity's international logistics operations.
Last but not least, Evie and the rest of the team at HLPFI wishes everyone a happy Easter!