August 21 - As it celebrates its 30th anniversary, ALS continues to see a diverse array of heavy and over-dimensional cargoes.

Earlier this year, the company emphasised its desire to win further contracts for moving tunnel boring machines (TBMs) and has recently arranged the complete movement of a TBM and ancillary components from three job sites in inland China and Hong Kong to Iran for a civil engineering project. (See picture one below)

"The total cargo was 2,600 cbm with the largest piece in the region of 16m long, 3.8m wide, 2.9m high and weighing 130 tonnes," said Dave Roosen, project manager, Sea Freight Division at ALS (Freight Management Nederland) BV, in Moerdijk, The Netherlands.

"ALS was involved in the purchase and packing of the containers. We arranged the transportation of the cargo to port by road and then by barge to a heavy lift vessel. Our role involved the discharge from ship, pre-shipment and discharge surveys, necessary insurance along with customs and export documentation," added Mr Roosen. 

Elsewhere, ALS has arranged the logistics, route survey and necessary escort requirements for three rotoclaves, shipped - once packed - from the USA to the UK. The dimensions of each were 21.39m in length, 4.67m in width, 4.24m in height and weighing over 77 tonnes each. The autoclaves are used for controlled waste management. (See picture two below)

In a demonstration of its cross trade capabilities, ALS has also handled the shipment of part cargoes for a refinery plant from India to Croatia. The two refinery plant shells weighed 42 tonnes and 36 tonnes respectively and ALS was responsible for transporting the cargo for the receivers by heavy lift vessel. (See picture three below)

From Croatia, ALS has moved a mill shell to Tunisia, acting as agents for the shipper and moving the shell by gearless seafaring coaster. (See picture four below)