July 7 - Chapman Freeborn Airchartering Inc has delivered seven skimmer boats to help tackle the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, writes Alice Davidson.

Managed by Michael Gellert, the company chartered an Antonov AN-124 to transport four eleven metre and three six metre vessels from Nantes to New Orleans.

Chapman Freeborn organised road transportation from the shipyard to the airport, and helped oversee the loading of the cargo, which totalled over 21 tonnes.

The AN-124 charter is just the latest in a series of flights Chapman Freeborn has completed to help contain the leak from the site of the Deepwater Horizon rig. The company's Singapore office has overseen eight separate cargo charters on B747-200F and B747-400F aircraft to transport over 457 tonnes of rubber booms and other oil spill equipment from the Far East to New Orleans and Houston.

The company's European offices arranged the delivery of 61 tonnes of technical equipment from the UK and a Dassault Falcon 7X executive jet to transport a team of seven marine salvage experts from Amsterdam to New Orleans.