December 19 - Geodis has completed a contract with Petrofac for the transportation of oil production modules, weighing up to 4,500 tonnes each, from several origins in Asia to Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Geodis' industrial projects team coordinated the delivery of 24 modules from China, South Korea and Singapore to Abu Dhabi on board semi-submersible vessels - the largest of which has a beam of 63 m and deadweight of 72,000 tonnes.
On arrival at the destination in the Middle East Gulf, the vessels discharged the modules onto barges at sea, from where they were towed to land for overland transport to the production site.
The last of the modules departed from its origin in October 2016.
Philippe Somers, senior vice president, industrial projects at Geodis, explained that the project was a massive success for the company in light of the slowdown in the oil industry.
"It underlines our unique positioning as an expert for innovative transport solutions, also in a very demanding market like the oil and gas segment, where the oil price is still down and players of the industry require even more to work with efficient, adaptive and agile partners."
Meanwhile, Geodis has also coordinated the transport of eight large gantry cranes from Poland to the Canadian Port of Vancouver.
The cranes were dismantled into two 75 m girders and shipped in two lots from Gdynia Port in Poland to the Canadian gateway - a journey that lasted around 25 days. The consignment had a total volume of 50,000 freight tonnes.
The project required the cargo to be secured in the ship's hold for ocean transport between Poland and Canada. Geodis also arranged a transport pilot, prepared detailed work plans and schedules, and arranged special cargo and transport permits.
"Our main challenge was finding a vessel that could carry all of the pieces at one time," said Stefan Waszak, manager operations, industrial projects for Geodis in Germany. "But after a thorough research we found the right solution for the customer."
