This week's round up of news from the world of heavy lift and project forwarding.

There was little surprise in the UK this week when the Airports Commission refused to shortlist plans for a four-runway hub airport in the Thames Estuary.

Building a new airport would be an enormous engineering undertaking, and would have had many project freight forwarders licking their lips in anticipation of a work bonanza, should the spades have ever started digging.

Pardon the pun, but we suspect that they, like most of the country never really expected that this was really going to fly; and it seems improbable that its most vocal supporter, London Mayor Boris Johnson, did not know this before he commissioned studies that have, according to one estimate, cost Londoners around GBP5.2m (USD8.4 m).

This week's Friday Flyer is sponsored by DHL Industrial Projects, which aims to be the logistics partner of choice to the oil and gas, mining, power generation and construction industries. Its expertise in cargo scheduling and materials management means it can offer tailored solutions for unique outsize cargoes and heavy lifts.


In business

The week has seen musical chairs at some of the biggest brands in the project forwarding sector.

Panalpina confirmed that Hans Toggweiler (pictured top right) would head its newly created Panalpina Energy Solutions, a specialised service for the world's most ambitious energy projects, whilst Chris Kent, who was global head of the Panprojects division would be leaving after 12 years of service.

Readers may recall that Toggweiler retired as ceo for the global operations of DHL Industrial Projects and Oil & Energy in 2013. Two other previous senior managers from that company have also found new roles at rival multinationals with Julien Ranzato joining Damco as global head of project logistics, and Rufus Frere-Smith joining Kuehne + Nagel as vice president projects, oil & gas and marine logistics.

Elsewhere, NCSG Crane & Heavy Haul Corporation acquired Tucker Oilfield Hauling, whilst Barnhart agreed to purchase Crane Rental & Rigging, and Bureau Veritas acquired loss adjusting and risk assessment services provider MatthewsDaniel. Also busy was French crane rental and lifting company Mediaco with the acquisition of Lander Manutention, while AGL Resources closed the sale of its Tropical Shipping business to a subsidiary of Seattle-based Saltchuk Resources.

Euroports Belgium agreed to sell its 66.6 percent share in the Trilogiport Terminal to DP World.

Rickmers-Linie appointed Interliner Agencies as its new agent in South Central Europe.


Capacity developments

ADM Team Heavy Weight added a three-axle Faymonville MegaMAX lowbed semi-trailer to its fleet.

Enerpac introduced its new Pow'R-LOCK self-contained, self-locking portable lift system, which has a capacity of 200 tonnes.


Shipments of the week

Van der Vlist coordinated the shipment of a large access bridge, weighing approximately 90 tonnes, with the dimensions 35.5 m x 7 m x 9 m, from the Netherlands to China (pictured top right).

The 14-tonne and 15 m long power boat, Cigarette Marauder, was transported from Doha to Nice in France onboard a Volga-Dnepr Airlines IL-76TD-90VD freighter (pictured second right).

Seaway Heavy Lifting installed the 555-tonne IKA JZ deck on top of an existing jacket for INAgip - a joint venture between Croatia's oil company INA and Italy's Eni.

Roll-Lift transported and installed a splitter column in Houston, USA on behalf of Kinder Morgan, using 20 axle lines of SPMT and a hopper barge (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

HLPFI is set to launch a weekly capital projects newsletter, summarising contracts that have been awarded to EPCs and OEMs.

A sample will be distributed to our database today. If you like what you see and interested in subscribing, please contact David Kershaw.


On the move

SAL Heavy Lift Singapore transferred Alexander Poetz (pictured) from Hamburg to Singapore. The Port of Everett Commission appointed Les Reardanz its new chief executive officer, while Erkki Valtonen took over the role of Blue Water Shipping's country manager for Finland. CEVA Logistics opened a new freight management and logistics facility in San Diego, while in India, OIA Global established an office in Mumbai.


Network and association developments

The XLProjects (XLP) network added Dealex Transport in Ukraine and Dealextrans in Belarus to its roster, as well as Tehran Rahvar Int'l Freight Forwarders in Iran. The XLP network also appointed Wallem Shipping as a representative in six East Asian countries: Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Japan and Vietnam. Project Partners network member Catoni & Co. added its branch offices in Tbilisi and Poti, Georgia to the group. Havener Logistics from Cameroon joined the Pacific Power Logistics (PPL) network. Elsewhere, a consortium of Latin American companies specialised in the transport and handling of heavy cargoes are combining to form a new association: ALATRANS (Asociacion Latino Americana de Empresas de Transporte y Movimiento de Cargas Pesadas).


All about Evie

An enthusiastic Star Wars fan, Evie was delighted by the cutting-edge news that specialists at Shvabe Holding are ready to test their latest creation - a ship-mounted laser cannon that can cut through ice.

Created for exploration and development in the Arctic, so that ships can pass through particularly icy areas, the first deliveries of the device are expected in 2015.

Evie is not sure she can wait that long for this cool innovation.

This week also saw the premiere of Modulift's brand new corporate video. Evie suggests you buy a bag of popcorn and check it out here.

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