February 13 - Volga-Dnepr Airlines' offices in Ulyanovsk, Russia and London Stansted have combined forces to expedite an urgent shipment of oil production equipment, weighing 35 tonnes, from Scotland to Turkey.
"After receiving an urgent customer request, our engineers in Ulyanovsk developed a load plan and multipurpose shipping cradle to load the cargo of 19 m pipes, while the manufacturing of the cradle was organised by our Stansted team," explained Huseyn Mammadli, logistics executive at Volga-Dnepr's engineering and logistics centre (ELC).
Whilst the cradle was being manufactured, Volga-Dnepr's ELC arranged the renting of cranes for loading, as well as a trailer to deliver the pipes to Scotland's Prestwick Airport. Extra loading equipment was also delivered to the UK from Leipzig in Germany especially for this flight.
Despite a strong 20 mph wind in Prestwick on the day of the loading, the technical crew of the aircraft managed to successfully build up the loading complex, install the pipes in the cradle and lift the cargo into the IL-76TD-90VD freighter aircraft's cargo hold, explained Mammadli.
The oil production equipment was delivered on behalf of DHL Global Forwarding to Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, and is destined for use in exploration and drilling projects on Turkey's Black Sea shelf.
