February 14 - Netherlands headquartered Van der Vlist Group has been busy expanding its global presence, whist executing projects worldwide.
Van der Vlist Russia has been brought under the full control of Van der Vlist Group in a move to secure the long-term stability of the St Petersburg operation. Van der Vlist Russia previously operated on a joint ownership basis.
According to joint managing director, Dirk Van der Vlist, the Russian market is an area of renewed growth, and that St Petersburg provides a gateway to a Federation that has an ever-increasing demand for heavy mobile equipment and out-of-gauge cargo.
"The Van der Vlist facility in St Petersburg is strategically placed to offer a multimodal solution for the delivery of cargo into the Russian Federation. Our Russian office also has a 23,500 sq m storage facility, wash bay and workshops and sits on the rail network right next to the docks, which is essential for serving this vast country," he added.
Dirk Van der Vlist noted the next step in the company's Russian development is to increase the number of trucks it has operating in the region, targeting local work around the western edge of the country.
Elsewhere, the group has been busy transporting large concrete beams to St Maarten in the Dutch Antilles (pictured below). The beams will be used in a bridge construction project connecting the east side of the island to the airport, crossing the Simpson Bay Lagoon.
115 concrete beams each weighing 30 tons (27.21 tonnes) and measuring 20 m in length were transported to the Vlan der Vlist terminal in Moerdijk, the Netherlands, on extendible flat bed trailers. Alongside additional equipment, the 4,300-ton consignment was loaded on board the vessel MC Arne using a portal crane.
The bridge - currently being built by Volker Construction - is due for completion at the end of 2013.
Another recent project completed by Van der Vlist involved the delivery of a production line between China and Budapest, Hungary.
39 oversized crates with dimensions of up to 3.42 m wide and 3.79 m high, were shipped from Shanghai to Rotterdam, the Netherlands on flatracks. Once in Rotterdam the crates were barged to Moerdijk, unloaded and stored at the Van der Vlist secure holding facility.
The over-dimensional cargoes were then loaded on to trailers for the onward delivery to Budapest.
Martin van Dam, joint managing director of Van der Vlist, noted the Hungarian production line was being built as the cargo was being delivered: "We had a two week window to deliver the full consignment of 39 boxes and each one had to arrive in the correct order. In total, we sent 31 trucks from Moerdijk to Hungary, a journey of around 1400 km per truck."
www.vandervlist.com
