The Friday Flyer

Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) - www.2wglobal.com - is taking a 60 percent stake in Abnormal Load Services Holding BV - www.abnormal-loads.com - the parent of a number of companies within ALS (Freight Management Group) including the Hull, UK-headquartered Abnormal Load Services (International) Limited. Lift and Shift Engineering Middle East LLC (LSEME) - www.liftandshift.co.in - a joint venture between FASTCO LLC, an OHI Group company and India's Apurva Parikh Group Company, has started operations in Oman to meet the growing heavy lift demands of the local market. Meanwhile, Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) - www.iss-shipping.com - is teaming up in a new strategic partnership with offshore logistics and freight forwarding specialist Palumbo SpA - www.palumbospa.it - to form ISS Palumbo Srl to provide offshore project logistics and freight forwarding solutions.

In Brazil, a change of name has seen Tropical Comercial Maritima, which has been operating as a commercial office for Clipper Lines - www.clipper-group.com - since 1990, become Clipper Projects Brasil Transportes Marítimos Ltda - www.tamgroup.com.br.

It's 'hands on' for the management team at Manchester, UK-based freight logistics provider Cardinal Maritime Group - www.cardinalmaritime.com - as its founder, Brian Hay, has delivered control of the business to the management team while forwarder Damco - www.damco.com - is set to acquire PacNet, a leading freight forwarder in China and Australia, with almost 400 employees and a turnover of USD180 million in its last financial year (2011), as well as offices in Italy, India, the UK and the USA.

US sanctions against Iran prevent the export of any US goods and services to the Middle Eastern country. Operators in the heavy lift and project cargo sectors are being warned to be extremely careful to avoid any potential sanction-busting shipments. Break the sanctions and organisations could face fines of up to USD10 million or up to 30 years in prison. Accidental sanction-busting movements could arise if your shipment, which has nothing to do with Iran, is transported, without your knowledge, along its journey by an Iranian-registered ship or aircraft. It is clear that you cannot be too vigilant in this matter.

It has become a weighty issue, but shippers are being accused of having a cavalier attitude to container weights, leading to potential and actual disasters in the global supply chain. Shippers are presenting many ocean containers where the actual container weights have differed significantly from the declared weights. The issue has come to a head as an IMO - www.imo.org - sub-committee looking at the issue seems to be in danger of failing to create an environment in which all players take responsibility for this problem.

In a keynote address to delegates of the 2012 Breakbulk Americas conference at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on October 10, 2012, Ron Widdows, ceo of Germany-based Rickmers-Linie - www.rickmers-linie.com - queried when there would be an economic pick up and global business prospects would improve. With Chinese and US elections in the offing, many in the industry will echo his questions.

In business news this week, we saw the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) - www.marisec.org - which claims to represent over 80 percent of the world merchant fleet, welcome the acknowledgment by governments at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) - www.imo.org - that there will be significant problems with the implementation of the Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention.

A recent Alphaliner - www.alphaliner.com - report suggests that the liner shipping industry is unlikely to see much consolidation in the foreseeable future despite the carriers' present financial difficulties.

Following Jarvis International Freight, Crowley's Houston-based, freight forwarding, export packing and logistics division, absorption into Crowley Maritime Corp - www.crowley.com, Danny Hall has been promoted to vp strategic business development, for Crowley's logistics team, while David Higgs has been promoted to vp project logistics and global freight management. Meanwhile Kaj Lindvig, who has played a major role in A2SEA - www.a2sea.com - since the company's launch in 2000, including ceo and most recently as chief strategy officer (cso), is being replaced by Martin Huss, currently the company's regional manager for Germany and the Benelux countries.

Interesting loads this week saw Holleman Bulgaria - www.holleman.bg - a member of the Worlwide Project Consortium (WWPC) for Bulgaria, transport a heavy turbine housing, plus accessories from Pleven, Bulgaria to Tydal, Norway, while Austrian logistics company Prangl GmbH - www.prangl.at - handled the shipment of a tram from Romania to Germany. The Imperio tram is the first to have been manufactured entirely in Romania and is currently one of only three in existence. At 340 tonnes, a wire rope reel which was shipped on Clipper Projects' - www.clipper-group.com/Projects - Clipper Century was the heaviest item delivered by its manufacturer to date.

The projects division of Altius - www.altius.es - is responsible for transporting four ship-to-shorecranes from Amsterdam to Vigo and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Outotec - www.outotec.com - has selected Nurminen Logistics - www.nurminenlogistics.com - a member of the Cargo Equipment Experts (CEE) - www.cargoequipmentexperts.com - network in Finland, as its partner for the delivery of a concentrating plant to the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. Outotec's contract involves logistics planning for the entire concentrating plant, the principal process equipment for flotation and dehydration including 12 of the world'slargest TankCell 300 flotation cells

It was birthday cake all round as Clipper celebrates its 40th anniversary in shipping. Clipper - www.clipper-group.com - started primarily as an operator in the dry cargo segment. In the 1990s, the company grew to be a shipowner as well.

Building blocks: Volga-Dnepr Technics (VDT) - www.volga-dnepr.com - part of Russia's Volga-Dnepr Group, has opened an aircraft line maintenance station at Frankfurt Airport, Germany while Schenker Limited, the UK arm of the global services provider DB Schenker Logistics - www.dbschenker.com - has opened its new headquarters building at London Heathrow airport.

What a picture! Over 130 professional andamateur photographers from 23 countries submitted entries to a special photographic competition organised by Volga-Dnepr Group - www.volga-dnepr.com - to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Antonov AN-124 freighter's maiden flight. The competition invited photographers to send in their favourite images of the unique AN-124-100 'Ruslan' aircraft as well the other freighters.

In port news this week, Swale Borough Council in the UK has approved Peel Port's - www.peelports.co.uk - planning application for the development of a wind turbine manufacturing facility at the Port of Sheerness, following the abandonment of a plan last year by Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas of a twelve-month option with Peel Ports to construct a major manufacturing plant at Sheerness - www.medwayports.com/sheernes - while the management of Great Yarmouth outer harbour say that it is taking steps to make it more attractive as a base for the offshore energy industry. Eastport UK - www.eastportuk.co.uk - is investing about USD15 million to narrow the harbour mouth to "calm sea conditions", making it more suitable to the needs of the offshore industry.

In news that would have gladdened Casey Jones' heart, Specialized Rail Transport - www.srt.cc - in the United States says that its 20-axle railcar is on the move again and in higher demand than ever. SRT reports that it has handled the movement of a generator and turbine, totalling nearly 300 tonnes to a power plant in the Carolinas using SRT's 20-axle railcar and one 8-axle heavy duty FD railcar.

And finally. The Almajdouie Group LLC - www.almajdouie.com - a member of both the Worldwide Project Consortium (WWPC) - www.wwpc.eu.com - and the Cargo Equipment Experts (CEE) - www.cargoequipmentexperts.com - networks in Saudi Arabia, has become the first Saudi private company to appear in Guinness Book of World Records - www.guinnessworldrecords.com.

President of Almajdouie Group, Abdullah Almajdouie and vice president logistics, S. I. Mustafa received a Guinness World Record Holder certificate for the "Heaviest Item Moved by Road Freight" from the managing director of Guinness World Records, Alistair Richards in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, during a gala ceremony attended by more than 500 figureheads from the logistics industry.

The award is based on the transportation of eight evaporator units each weighing around 5,000 tonnes from the manufacturer in South Korea to the project site in Saudi Arabia. The combined weight for all the units exceeds 41,000 tonnes.

Work is now well underway on issue 29 of HLPFI, which will include features on cargo warranty surveying, inland waterways, equipment hire companies, power generation - non-renewable energies, France, the Nordic countries, South Africa as well as Austria and Switzerland. Our supplement will be on the Caspian States and Central Asia.

This is a good time to submit editorial contributions or advertising bookings for our November/December edition and consider getting involved in the contents of our final edition of 2012. And, there are still plenty of opportunities to join the likes of CEE, GPLN, DHL, and PCN, by sponsoring our Friday Flyer.

With Halloween just around the corner, here is a treat from HLPFI, rather than a trick.

Right now, until October 31, you can place your employment vacancy on our website for only £500 and get the following - no tricks involved.

Premium posting in the jobs area of www.heavyliftpfi.com (over 10,000 unique visitors per month), which includes -

- Company Logo next to job posting

- Hyperlink in jobs area linking through to recruiter profile or to company homepage

- A job listing in the Friday Flyer (sent to over 9,500 individual email addresses every week)

Contact Ian Matheson on +44 (0) 1689 857631 or ian@heavyliftpfi.com for more information on any of the above.