This week's round up of news from the world of heavy lift and project forwarding.
The latest Economic Outlook from the OECD states that whilst the global economy will strengthen over the coming two years, urgent action is still required to further reduce unemployment and address other legacies from the global economic crisis.
OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría stated that advanced economies are gaining momentum and driving the pick-up in global growth, while once-stalled cylinders of the economic engine, like investment and trade, are starting to fire again.
According to the Outlook, GDP growth across the 34-member OECD is projected to accelerate to a 2.2 percent rate in 2014 and 2.8 percent in 2015, whilst the world economy will grow at a 3.4 percent rate in 2014 and 3.9 percent in 2015.
With the cylinders of the world's economic engine apparently starting to fire again, this leaves the project forwarding industry ready to provide the freight and logistics services that oil the wheels of the global economy and international trade.
This week's Friday Flyer is sponsored by KOG Transport. Established in 1981, project specialist KOG now has 23 own offices in the USA, Canada, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, the UK, Spain, Ukraine, Abu Dhabi, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, China and Japan. It also has a strong focus on Russia, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Angola and Nigeria. KOG specialises in project shipments mainly for the oil and gas, power generation and industrial plants industry. KOG: big enough to handle - small enough to care!
In the corporate world
Universal Transport acquired a majority stake in German transport specialist Messingschlager.
Despite a stable top line, Wilh. Wilhelmsen Holding ASA posted a decline in operating profit in the first quarter of 2014.
Agility posted a net profit increase of 11 percent year-on-year in Q1 2014 at KD11.24 million (USD40 million).
The Logwin Group reported revenues of EUR278.5 million (USD386.5 million) for the first quarter of 2014.
Capacity developments
Grimaldi Group added two vessels to its Savona-Valencia ro-ro service and now offers daily departures from each of the gateways.
Boskalis announced that it had started a study into a new ultra-large V-class heavy marine transport vessel to rival the Dockwise Vanguard.
Following an agreement with Cobelfret of Luxembourg, Nordana can now present the complete fleet that will replace its current tonnage in the Mediterranean/Latin America - USA service.
Nordana is also set to commence operations for its new Mediterranean service in the middle of June, 2014.
Shipments of the week
R&B Global Projects chartered a multipurpose tramp vessel to transport 5,000 cu m of earthmoving machinery and equipment (pictured top right) from Papua New Guinea to Dunkerque.
Kübler Spedition transported a passenger ship's upper deck and hull, weighing 200 tonnes, to the Markkleeberg Lake in Germany on 21 axle lines of Scheuerle InterCombi platform trailers.
Van der Vlist transported a 41-tonne bearing frame from Hamburg to a hydroelectric power station in the extreme north of Norway - 150 km into the Arctic Circle (pictured second right).
SAL Heavy Lift carried a 257-tonne cryogenic heat exchanger on board its vessel Annagret (pictured bottom right) from Fairless Hills to Malaysia, for use in the LNG Train 9 project in Bintulu.
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
GE Power & Water has agreed terms with HongHua to supply GE gas engines to power new rigs that will be used for shale gas projects in China.
Jacobs Engineering Group received a contract from Borealis to provide engineering, procurement, project management and construction management services for a project at its manufacturing site in Stenungsund, Sweden.
Gamesa signed an agreement to supply 24 wind turbines to Fujian Energy for a wind farm being built in Dahanshan, China.
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
The FREJA Group opened a new office for FREJA Transport & Logistics AS in Kristiansand, Norway, while Spanish freight forwarding group Transitex established a new division in Genoa - Transitex Italia. The Famous Pacific Shipping (FPS) network agent for Dubai, Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi - Reliance Freight Systems - opened a new office in Doha, Qatar.
Network news
China's Ginter Logistics Service joined the Global Project Logistics Network (GPLN), while BigMove AG welcomed Mammoet Road Cargo to its European heavy transport network. The CLC Projects network added Trans Sahara Shipping Ltd as a member for Sierra Leone and Liberia, and AGIL Freight Logistics SPC as a member for Bahrain. Elsewhere, the XLProjects (XLP) network gained Concargo as a new member in South Africa, while the Project Cargo Network (PCN) added Denmark's Fairplay Shipping, Colombia's HT Line and Mozambique's PowerVia Moçambique to its ranks. The Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association (SC&RA) presented Ben Forster of Rigging Gear Sales with the President's Award and James Lomma of J.F. Lomma Inc. with its Golden Achievement Award.
All about Evie
Evie was interested to hear this week that German football champion FC Bayern Munich would be celebrating its 24th title with a triumphal procession on a customised MAN vehicle.
The converted truck features a bar, DJ equipment and a toilet, so the football pros and their entourage will be riding in style. Evie will be showing her support on the streets of Munich.
HLPFI's Oliver Ward, who attended the WCA Projects Network's eighth annual conference this week, told Evie about the success of event which saw 116 delegates come together in Abu Dhabi.
