Globalink was recently approached to assist with two extremely challenging projects. One involved moving equipment totaling 1,200 tons for a wastewater treatment plant. The equipment was moved by ro/ro vessel from Houston, USA to St. Petersburg, Russia. Upon reaching St. Petersburg, it was then transshipped onto river vessels able to navigate the Volga Don River for the next leg to the Caspian Sea Port of Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan. Upon arrival at Turkmenbashi Port, low bed trailers came into the picture which took the shipment to its final destination- the job site of an oil refinery; on time and as promised. The shipment consisted of several pieces with some weighing in at hundreds of tons. The second involved the transportation of gold mining equipment to Kustanai, located in the eastern part of Kazakhstan. Involving total tonnage to the tune of about 20,000 tons, with majority of the pieces being oversized and some with diameters of six meters plus, the entire project consisted of four separate phases as the origin points varied. Globalink’s experienced Projects Division discussed and proposed and discussed the most viable option from each origin point and planned all details so that shipments would arrive at the destination in the needed sequence and as per the customer’s schedule. From South Africa, Globalink arranged direct vessel charters right upto Mareupol Port, Ukraine. From Mareupol, rail became the mode of transportation and carried the shipment approximately 3000km (1,864 miles) to reach the railway station at Kustanai. At Kustanai Station, the shipment was transloaded onto special low-boy trailers and driven the last 120km (75 miles) to reach the gold mine site. At the same time, shipment originating from the Czech Republic made its way to Hamburg, Germany via barge from Port Melink. Barge gave way to vessel for the journey to St. Petersburg, Russia and after being transloaded onto river/sea class vessel the shipment left St. Petersburg and navigated down the Volga Don River to Samara, Russia. Once again low-boy trailers came into the picture and took the shipment from Samara upto the final site. From Germany and Finland, taking advantage of the excellent rail connection, special rail cars (having 6 axel platforms) were booked for the trip upto the Kustanai Railway Station. For the shipments coming from Germany, low-boy trailers were employed once again whereas for the cargo originating from Finland, only regular trucks were needed as these 15 odd wagons mainly contained auxiliary parts, spare parts, etc. Coordination of shipments such as this coming from various locations and each with a time driven agenda, was by no means an easy task but with a knowledgeable and dedicated team led by able project managers, Globalink was able to synchronize everything and that resulted in a seamless and problem free transport. Arrangement of all the special road permits and project plans that needed to be submitted to the appropriate authorities in the transit countries was done well in advance and not a single item was left to chance. In addition to providing the logistics and transportation for theses two projects and the cargo being lashed by experienced and professional employees, insurance for the shipment was also arranged as Globalink is an authorized agent for Lloyds of London. Their offices and exceptional management team with thorough local knowledge and logistics expertise monitored the cargo at each juncture as the shipment traveled via different countries to their respective destinations. With 22 offices in The CIS alone and an unparalleled network in place, Globalink is the only logistics provider in the CIS market offering a complete set of logistics solutions to its customers. The “one stop solution” concept has been developed to enable customers to direct all their requirements, be it CEP, Freight Management, Customs & Distribution, Projects Logistics, Removals & Relocation and other value added services to one company instead of approaching a multitude of different ones for various