With threats of another dry summer on the West Coast of North America, Hamburg S'd has been helping reposition a fleet of nimble Bell B212 helicopters from service below the equator to the Canadian West. Seven of the choppers have been delivered so far from Australia where they were used for forest and wildland fire suppression during their summer months season of November to late March. Now the craft are being brought to Western Canada via Hamburg S'd's Australia/New Zealand ' West Coast service calls at Vancouver.
Each of the choppers was disassembled for transport with the body and tail sections carefully lashed on flat racks and shrink wrapped to protect them from the elements during ocean transport. Upon delivery at Fraser Surrey Docks in Vancouver, the aircraft were carefully offloaded onto the pier and then reassembled and flown to strategic locations in western Canada, ready to respond to fire outbreaks this summer.
Given their high value, fire-fighting helicopters must be repositioned continually each year to meet regional and seasonal needs and generate adequate return on the capital invested by their owners. Hamburg S'd offers fixed-day weekly sailing schedules between Australasia and North America and global services to other potential hotspots like the Mediterranean. The company's extensive experience in the specialized logistics of handling and shipping these unique and fragile cargoes makes them a natural choice for shippers. This season alone, Hamburg S'd has handled everything from the B212s to giant SkyCrane choppers, capable of lifting massive payloads of water or fire-retardant slurry from nearby lakes, streams or oceans to hard-to-reach inland fire locations.
