April 1 - Global forwarder Ahlers has moved a gigantic statue of a Smurf to Shanghai in what sounds like a April Fool's story but isn't.
The loveable creature is, in fact, the official Belgian mascot for the country's pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo.
Ahlers Forwarding handled the statue as well as other items that will embellish the Belgian pavilion, including pallets of Belgian chocolates and architectural models of the University of Ghent. Other consignments will see items to be used during the Expo's opening ceremony taken to China.
Meanwhile, Ahlers is to move the components of a power plant from China to Belarus in a consignment consisting of steel structures, machinery and control equipment divided over seven or eight shipments on a bi-monthly basis until July 2011.
Ahlers China signed a contract for a power plant project in Minsk, Belarus that will see the company move the cargo and 300 teu from China to Minsk via Klaipeda, Lithuania
The company has also announced a new office to serve clients in Kazakhstan. The office, in Aktau, the country's only seaport on the Caspian sea, is fully operational. In Hong Kong, Ahlers has relocated its office to North Point, Hong Kong, effective immediately..
