This week's round up of news from the world of heavy lift and project forwarding.
In the northern hemisphere, August is traditionally called the silly season, when the lack of hard news means that reports of a more humorous nature often fill the column inches of the media.
And whilst the significant news contained in this and recent editions of the Friday Flyer suggest that it hasn't been that silly in the world of heavy lift and project forwarding this August, the HLPFI editorial team were intrigued by a report in the Scotsman newspaper, that a local council in Scotland has confirmed that it uses heavy lifting gear to winch the bodies of obese Scots into their graves. A spokeswoman for Midlothian Council said: "We would always ask the permission of the family before using this." Well, that's alright then.
This week's Friday Flyer is sponsored by Volga-Dnepr Group, a world leader in the unique, oversize and heavy cargo market, successfully representing the Russian airfreight industry in the international market since 1990.
In business
Neptune Pacific Line is to buy Polynesian Shipping Line, while F S Mackenzie was sold to Singapore Post.
Rhenus Group is repositioning itself in the logistics business with the establishment of Rhenus Offshore Logistics GmbH & Co.
Toll's revenue increased 1.1 percent over the previous year, while Clarksons posted a strong performance for the six months ended June 30, 2014, and Tiong Woon posted a 25 percent year-on-year increase in net profit for the financial year ended June 30, 2014.
The nine seaports of Niedersachsen saw almost 23 million tonnes of cargo throughput in the first half of 2014, while the Port of Hamburg handled a total of 72.6 million tonnes of cargo in the same period, during which the Port of Longview posted a 4 percent year-on-year increase in cargo handled.
Capacity developments
Nordana confirmed reports that it has ordered a further eight heavy lift ships from China's Taizhou Sanfu Shipbuilding.
Roll-iT ordered 24 axle lines of Scheuerle SPMT Split - an SPMT version that can be divided in half to form three-file combinations.
CEA Projects' new division in Myanmar ordered two new UD GWE 420 Quester tractor units (pictured right) from UMG Myanmar.
Shipments of the week
ALE loaded-out of the largest piece of a turret for Shell's Prelude FLNG facility, which has now set sail from Dubai to the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea (pictured top right).
The 6,000-tonne hull section of the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier was rolled out of its dock hall at BAE Systems' Portsmouth facility, ready for its barge transport to Rosyth in Scotland.
Mammoet lifted the space shuttle replica, Independence, to a height of 45.7 m and placed it on the original Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft at the NASA Space Center Houston (pictured bottom right).
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
Capital projects and contracts
Vestas and EP Global Energy signed an MOU to expand its existing Wind for Prosperity collaboration into Africa.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is to build a large scale ammonia and urea fertiliser production plant for Turkmenhimiya.
A subsidiary of Foster Wheeler has won a contract from Iberdrola, for a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG).
For a fuller round up of capital projects and contracts announced this week please visit the HLPFI website or contact David Kershaw.
On the move
In Australia, ASCO opened a new marine supply base in Darwin, while DB Schenker opened its largest Australian supply chain and warehouse facility in Ipswich, Queensland. Hansa Meyer Global continues its commitment to training with the appointment of three new trainees (pictured right) in Bremen and Hamburg. Natalya Kulagina joined VESTA-Kazakhstan as general director of the company.
Network and association developments
The Project Partners network enlisted two new new members: Siyan Trans Express representing Djibouti, and Sky Sierra Intl. Logistics from China. Australia's Salt Global Logistics joined the newly created All in One (AiO) logistics network. The CLC Projects network gained new member UT Freight Service, representing Taiwan, Beijing and New York. The SC&RA gained the following new members: Kane Russell Coleman & Logan PC and Logistics Solutions Worldwide; as well as two returning members: G&G Specialized Carriers, LLC and United Crane.
All about Evie
With all this talk about mammoth-sized transports in the project forwarding world, Evie was amused this week to see that Nurminen Logistics had taken the phrase quite literally, with the delivery of three mammoth reconstructions to the Finnish Museum of Natural History.
The mammoths have been transported in wooden racks, and on arrival at the museum, will be hoisted in through a second floor window - another sight not to be missed, thought Evie, who also donned her party hat today to wish the Project Cargo Network (PCN) a very happy fourth anniversary.
