The Friday Flyer

Staff at HLPFI just love being at the seaside, with buckets and spades and sand between our toes. That is why news from Southend cheered up the office this week. For those readers outside the UK, Southend is one of the most famous of English seaside towns, known for having the longest pleasure pier in the world. GPS Marine was called in to position a new culture centre on the pier, fabricated 20 miles away, as part of a refurbishment of the section destroyed in 2005. The main contractor worked with Kier to position the building weighing 200 tonnes and measuring 20 m x 30 m, which had to be lifted in one piece from the barge to the pier using a sheerleg crane.

It was Hola! this week when PCN added a member in Chile. The Project Cargo Network (PCN) welcomed Integral Chile SA as its second member in Chile. PCN says it is especially delighted to have recruited strong representation in this important market as news that projects worth USD14 billion in the Chilean infrastructure sector have been put up for tender.

A new look for Jumbo Shipping came on line this week when the shipping line unveiled its new corporate website. The line wants to upgrade its online presentation and underline the A-brand status that the company enjoys globally and help attract talent for the shipping and offshore sectors.

A UK initiative to introduce more young people to freight has been launched to deliver a new online resource which, launched by Skills for Logistics, aims to get young people thinking about the logistics sector, and to learn about the exciting jobs and varied careers on offer. The website at www.deliveringyourfuture.co.uk is tailored to an audience of 11-19 year olds across the UK.

Vlissingen is set to become more attractive to heavy lift shipping with a new project cargo terminal. Dutch groupSupermaritime is to build a breakbulk terminal in the Scaldiahaven in Vlissingen, the Netherlands, adding to Supermaritime's package of services. For the Zeeland ports, the new terminal will mean an increase in capacity for handling general and project cargoes.

The week has seen the Dockwise-Fairstar takeover saga continue. After Dockwise reminded investors of the mandatory offer deadline for outstanding Fairstar Heavy Transport shares, the deadline passed with 40 percent of the shareholders still showing no interest in accepting the offer for their shares. Subsequently, the offer was extended and we wait with baited breath for another announcement after 17:00 (CET) today.

It was full marks for the TT Club when it was re-affirmed as A - (Excellent) by US rating agency, A. M. Best. The specialist insurer of the international freight and logistics sector has also had its issuer credit rating maintained at 'A -' by the agency. A. M. Best pronounced the outlook for both ratings as 'stable'. This is the seventh successive year that TT has maintained its ratings at these levels.

Conbit, the Dutch special lifting and structural engineering experts, completed its most challenging lifting job to date when it lifted a 44 tonne accommodation unit onto the K6-P platform of Total E&P Netherlands in the North Sea. The lift was performed with a temporary lifting system installed on the helideck.

Meanwhile, Projects FPS - the project forwarding and third-party logistics arm of Famous Pacific Shipping Lanka - has launched a dedicated logistics centre incorporating a document storage and archiving facility. Located in the commercial area of the Port of Colombo, the new Projects FPS facility will provide a full third-party logistics service including labelling, packing, storage, inventory management and nationwide distribution.

It was 'hello' and 'bon jour' when Manitoulin Global Forwarding acquired Can-Tran International Inc in Canada. No terms were disclosed in the announcement, but all Can-Tran employees will remain with the company, the Mississauga-based Manitoulin said.

Notable shipments reported this week included Holleman Bulgaria and Nurminen Logistics completing a joint operation for the transport of a 6 m boiler from Bulgaria to Finland; Wagenborg Nedlift using its new 500 tonne capacity mobile crane to separate a 56 year old radio-telescope from its base near Dwingeloo, The Netherlands; Navacel shipping eight suction anchors to Israel via Bilbao; and, sweet success for Van der Vlist Polen moving a dozen pieces of out-of-gauge production from Holland to Poland.

Please visit our website - www.heavyliftpfi.com - for the news stories in full and as they happen.

Work is well underway on issue 27 of HLPFI which will include features on Korea, UK, Canada, and Belgium; renewable energy logistics; training and certification; packing and crating; spreader bars, beams, shackles, slings and ropes; as well as our annual heavy lift airfreight and airlines supplement.

For further information on editorial or commercial participation in the magazine or the Friday Flyer, contact Ian Matheson on +44 1689 857631 or ian@heavyliftpfi.com

www.heavyliftpfi.com