The skills of Volga-Dnepr Group’s Engineering and Logistics Centre (ELC) were called into action to develop special loading equipment to transport a 30-ton ‘drum’ for desalination of drinking water from Dusseldorf in Germany to Kuwait City.
Loading the boiler drum onto the IL-76TD-90VD freighter
Loading the boiler drum onto the IL-76TD-90VD freighter
“This 10-metre steam drum for the oil and gas industry was both heavy and outsize and it was not equipped with tie-down points for its flight onboard one of Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ Iluyshin-76TD-90VD aircraft. To distribute the weight, we developed two small, light cradles and installed the cargo onto them. We also fitted the drum with special devices to enable us to meet the mooring safety requirements and fix the drum inside the cargo hold of the aircraft. The loading was completed using two cranes and a trailer. This solution was previously considered by the engineers of the customer. As a result of this preparation work, the steam drum was delivered on-time to the customer in Kuwait city,” said Evgeny Venikov, Load Planning Manager, Engineering and Logistics Centre, Volga-Dnepr Group. The flight was operated on behalf of the international forwarding and logistics company, Panalpina. Volga-Dnepr Airlines, part of Volga-Dnepr Group, has comprehensive experience of providing unique logistics services for complex cargo loads, including the development of special loading equipment for heavy and outsize cargo. The Engineering and Logistics Centre supplies customers with complex and cost-effective services and works on a 24/7/365 basis. Projects supported by the ELC team include an 88 flight programme to deliver 6,000 tonnes of equipment to a gas processing plant in Papua New Guinea and the carriage of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner wing section onboard Volga-Dnepr Group’s An-124-100 ‘Ruslan’ freighters. ELC also develops solutions for complex deliveries using the Group’s fleet of IL-76TD-90VD, Boeing 737 and B747 freighter aircraft.