The Friday Flyer - April 25th 2014

According to reports coming out of the Russian media this week, Volga-Dnepr is to put two-thirds of its employees on a three-day working week from June 1 as a result of falling freight volumes.

Despite data released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in February showing that global air freight markets were seeing an increase in demand, the Russian airline was exempt from this trend, posting a 44 percent drop in turnover at the start of the year.

The political situation in Russia and Ukraine has seen consumer demand drop significantly, which appears to have had a knock-on effect on Volga-Dnepr's cargo charter business.

Volga-Dnepr is not the only Russian airline struggling at the moment, with reports regarding Polet Airlines' court appeal still flying around media channels.

Polet has made no attempt to comment on its ongoing battle with the Moscow Arbitration Court, but it would seem that after one of its two AN-124 freighter aircraft was released, the court has tried to terminate its lease once more.

This week's Friday Flyer is sponsored by the Worldwide Project Consortium (WWPC) - www.wwpc.eu.com - and the Cargo Equipment Experts (CEE) - www.cargoequipmentexperts.com - The former is a leading dedicated network for project cargo freight forwarders. The latter is a global network for cargo equipment owners and operators, which specialise in moving and handling heavy and outsized shipments.
        
        
In the corporate world

At an extraordinary general meeting of Cargolux Airlines International's shareholders, it was resolved to increase the share capital of the airline by USD175 million in cash.

Having turned down a takeover bid from its largest shareholder Kistefos, troubled Swedish shipowner Rederi AB TransAtlantic (RABT) resolved on terms for its upcoming share issue.

Troubled Korean shipping line Pan Ocean cancelled an order for a semi-submersible heavy lift newbuilding that was placed with STX Dalian in 2012 and was due for delivery this year.

In the first quarter of 2014, OJSC Sea Port of Saint Petersburg (SPSPb) handled 1.9 million tonnes of cargo, up 5 percent year-on-year over the same period of 2013.

Breakbulk cargo volumes at the Port of Tacoma increased year-to-date, posting a 25 percent increase in March.


Capacity developments

Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) has added Novorossiysk in Russia as an additional inducement port in its liner service from Japan, Korea, China and Southeast Asia to Europe.

The TII Group gave an overview of its biggest transportation devices, including the Nicolas Reel Carrier (pictured top right), Kamag Slag Pot Transporter and Scheuerle Non-Cassette Carrier.

Bolk Transport invested in 35 Nooteboom pendle axle lines, including two MULTI-PX modular semi low-loaders with Multidolly (pictured second right).

Having invested in a 1,000-tonne capacity Liebherr LR 11000 crawler crane, Felbermayr is planning to build a 4,000 sq m heavy lift warehouse and assembly area on the river Rhine.

Crane Rental Corporation has purchased its first 500-tonne capacity Terex AC 500-2 all terrain crane (pictured bottom right).

Cargolux has delayed the start of its scheduled services to Zhengzhou, China, from April 24 to May 29, 2014.


Shipments of the week

ALE Heavy Lift completed the transport and load out of a 13,191-tonne PUQ deck in Jebel Ali, utilising 512 axles of SPMTs (pictured top right). The transport was awarded the Guinness World Record for "Heaviest Load Moved by SPMTs".

Tradelossa transported over-dimensional and overweight pieces for the Etileno XXI project in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz. In total 29,446 tonnes of cargo were moved during 1,004 trips. Watch a video here.

ADM Team Heavy Weight transported a 9 m high skid for an oil platform from Belgium to Scotland (pictured second right), utilising its new Nooteboom 3+6 PXE low loader trailer, a barge on the Albert Canal and a coaster vessel.

WWL ALS arranged for the delivery of two 38.4-tonne Bomag 772 land fill compactors on five-axle low loaders (pictured bottom right) from Hull to the Bomag factory in Germany.

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

China's Shenhua Ningmei Coal Group has placed a follow-up order with Siemens Energy for four CO2 compressor trains for a coal liquefaction plant.

Alstom has been awarded a EUR30 million contract by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited to supply components and services for the 2x660 MW Banharpalli Super Thermal Power Project in India.

Gazprom Neft's Moscow Refinery is to build a biological waste treatment plant.

For a fuller round up of projects and contracts announced this week please visit the HLPFI website or contact David Kershaw


On the move

Greencarrier AB, which until now has operated as two separate operations in Norway, decided to merge its freight forwarding and logistics activities into one entity. Geodis India appointed Sascha Von Ometzinski (pictured right) as national sales manager.


Network news

The Project Partners network enlisted UNITRANSPORTS SRL as a new member in Italy, as well as adding Indonesian representative PT Chaya Interfreight. The XLProjects (XLP) network gained Russia's RRL Logistics Moscow LLC, while the Project Cargo Network (PCN) welcomed Delta Maritime Limited as a new member representing Greece and Serbia. The CLC Projects network added two new members to its roster this week: Unik Transport & Logistics Solutions SA representing Panama, and PNL International Co Ltd representing Yantai and Shanghai in China.


All about Evie

HLPFI's Ian Matheson and Luke King have been telling Evie about the fantastic time they are having at SC&RA's annual conference in Boca Raton, meeting lots of new people and enjoying the temperate waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Although Evie wishes she had also been invited to Florida, she enjoyed her night in yesterday watching a television programme in which an entire Airbus A320 was turned into hundreds of innovative products in a giant upcycling experiment.

Evie was impressed by the UK haulage and logistics company, Gatwick Group, which handled the transport of large and small pieces of the plane for the project. Great job!