January 15 - Tuscor Lloyds was called upon by aspecialist manufacturing company that needed to move some large and cumbersome cargo for the offshore industry from the east coast of Scotland to Melbourne, Australia.

On a limited timeframe and budget, the company moved several tonnes of finished steel framing. Nick Rodriguez says: "This freight was so large we actually had to charter a vessel to get the cargo from Scotland to Zeebrugge which went very smoothly. The client arranged their own transport to the ship's side, the sea was calm, and we craned the pieces with no problems onto the vessel.

"As the cargo came to mainland Europe, the weather started to deteriorate. We ended up unloading the cargo in a blizzard but managed to get it onto the second vessel bound for Australia just in time."

As it turned out the timeframe for this part of the operation was extremely short. The cold snap affecting Northern Europe was beginning to cause chaos throughout the continent's transport hubs and failure to make the connection to the next vessel could have badly delayed the cargo.

"Fortunately Tuscor Lloyds has a professional and tenacious stevedoring partner in port, which ensured the transfer of the cargo went smoothly and safely," Nick explains.

Tuscor Lloyds' business is diversified in two key areas, general cargo project work and liner work comprising full and part load containers. The company also arranges out-of-profile shipments for the oil, gas and construction industries.