December 19 - DB Schenker has coordinated the delivery of two ball valves from Australia to Italy using a combination of Volga-Dnepr's charter and scheduled cargo services.
The valves, which were packed in wooden boxes, were first loaded on board one of the Volga-Dnepr Group's IL-76TD-90VD freighters in Perth, Western Australia before being flown to Singapore.
On arrival in Singapore, the units were transferred onto one of AirBridgeCargo Airlines' (ABC) Boeing 747 scheduled cargo services to Milan-Malpensa Airport, close to where the valves were being sent for maintenance.
"For this flight, speed was important but the customer also wanted to reduce the number of loading/offloading procedures or the need for trucking between hubs to ensure the safety of the cargo," explained Robert van de Weg, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Volga-Dnepr Group.
He added that the solution provided was helped by the fact that Volga-Dnepr has one of its IL-76TD-90VD freighters positioned in the Asia Pacific region on a permanent basis, which enables the company to respond quickly to customers as well as reducing aircraft repositioning costs.
"The combination of an IL-76 charter to connect with our scheduled 747F service ex Singapore worked perfectly for DB Schenker and its customer and we were able to perform the delivery using a single air waybill which also helped reduce the documentation work for them."
