April 21 - Belgium's TPL (Transport & Project Logistics) has handled the shipment of two large dryers from France to Jeddah via the port of Antwerp.

The dryers, each weighing 84 tonnes and more than 4 metres in diameter, will be part of an important water treatment project, for which the logistics are fully coordinated by TPL, a member of Worldproject Group (WPG).

Added complications for this move were created in France, where the denial of two permit applications meant that the shipments missed the first sailing on which they had been scheduled. TPL had to wait for more than ten weeks for permissions to be granted by no less than 13 French prefectures for the overland transport journey from Brittany to Antwerp. Eventually the cargo sailed on board an NYK ship for Jeddah.

TPL also had to arrange for the reduction boxes of each shipment to be removed in France and remounted in Antwerp, Belgium, on the quayside just before the ship sailed.

Robert Vermetten, managing partner of TPL says: "Even in times where the role of transport intermediaries is questioned by some, this was a true feat of organisation," and succeeded "due to excellent cooperation between the carrier NYK , the owners' representative and TPL's French WPG partner, Celtic Global Services."