Mix-N-Match for deugro Air Cargo Move

By Malcolm Ramsay

In a case study from Issue 6 of Breakbulk Magazine, reporter Malcolm Ramsay takes an in-depth look at how project freight forwarder deugro USA successfully balanced cost and speed to ensure the seamless multimodal delivery of 37 pipe stools from Thailand to the U.S.


In the high-stakes world of industrial facility start-ups, every ticking second equates to mounting costs. Downtime translates into dollars lost, making the use of airfreight operations for parts a necessity - but there is also a delicate balancing act between costs and speed to manage. Project freight forwarding specialist deugro USA was tasked with meeting those challenges in a recent project involving shipment of 37 pipe spools from Thailand to the U.S.

With a total volume of 213 tonnes and 1,628 cubic meters, this record move involved nine charter flights in total and complex coordination to ensure seamless multi-modal, door-to-door delivery for these valuable components.

“Facility downtimes cause immense hourly costs,” Gert Jensen, senior vice president operations, deugro USA, told Breakbulk. “Therefore, quick organization, preparation, fastest possible and safe delivery of the urgently needed components were paramount. Against this backdrop, and as several challenges had to be overcome simultaneously - from the planning and preparation phase up to the final delivery - deugro deployed a well-rehearsed international team of experienced air charter, project and transport engineering experts.”


Meticulous Preparation

With capacity in the heavy-lift air charter market tight as a result of the war in Ukraine, one of the biggest challenges was locating and securing aircraft that could not only be available at the right place and at the right time, but which also allowed for loading the oversized equipment. Given the scale of the cargo, the aircraft had to be able to accommodate extremely odd dimensions and complex shapes, with lengths of up to 36.6 meters, widths of up to 5.5 meters and heights of up to 4.4 meters.

To make the project more complex, the teams had to first arrange urgent transport of a critical piece of piping from the U.S. to the original manufacturer in Rayong Province, Thailand. This critical piece had to then be incorporated into a full-length pipe spool, saving several weeks of costly fabrication time.

“To have this piece moved from the U.S. to Thailand in the shortest possible transit time, the deugro team secured an AN-12 aircraft within just 24 hours, which was immediately available for departure from George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, and quickly reached the destination,” Pavel Kuznetsov, head of air chartering at deugro, explained.

With this part safely delivered the main scope of the project could begin, transporting the giant pipe spools from Thailand to the facility in the U.S. With the cargo including several sensitive components, the team had to carefully scrutinize available aircraft types, loading and lifting equipment, and airport capacities, all of which varied greatly. To address this challenge, deugro worked closely with loadmasters and engineers from dteq Transport Engineering Solutions, or dteq, to craft tailored packaging solutions, design safe and efficient loading methods, and secure supplementary loading equipment.

Founded in 2016, dteq is an independent company of deugro group and provides tailor-made transport and marine engineering solutions, as well as port captaining, surveying and supervision services, and project consulting.


Close Communication

To ensure the timely progress of the project, there was daily interaction between the production plant, client, carriers, transport engineers, and all institutions and service providers involved. Besides this, the team from deugro Thailand also made regular visits to the manufacturer’s site to verify progress on cargo readiness and arrange special packing measures for the cargo. Detailed Toolbox Talks and risk assessments were also conducted prior to each operation to ensure the personal safety of all involved.

“Since the oversized cargo units included lengths of over 36 meters, a variety of mobile cranes and truck-trailer configurations, as well as the special permits and police escorts required for road transportation had to be arranged for in advance to ensure a timely and smooth delivery of the replacement components from the Rayong plant to U-Tapao Airport,” Kumphol Chatthong, deputy general manager, deugro Thailand, said.

When it came to selecting an aircraft, the team faced additional challenges beyond the lack of capacity as loading the larger spools would require a minimum of three cargo main-deck loaders to move through the nose door of a Boeing 747 freighter, and U-Tapao Airport only had a limited number of such units.

As a result, an AN-124-100 aircraft operated by Antonov Airlines was chosen for the first three flights, allowing independent loading via the nosecone. The team then contracted a B-747 aircraft from Luxembourg heavy-lift airline Cargolux for the remaining cargoes.

“A tailored solution was required to fit this extraordinary cargo and transport it safely. Taking into consideration the size of each piece, the AN-124- 100 was the only aircraft possible to use,” Vladyslav Ishchuk, commercial executive at Antonov Airlines, said.

Besides the critical transportation of the cargo by aircraft, a variety of other preparations were essential to ensure the timely and smooth deliveries of the replacement components from the factory in Rayong to U-Tapao Airport, around 50 kilometers away.

This was especially pertinent for the exceptionally lengthy spools, measuring over 36 meters. Coupled with the truck-trailer setups employed during pre-carriage in Thailand, the cumulative lengths were over 45 meters. To ensure the secure movement of these oversized components, suitable loading and transport equipment had to be identified. This encompassed the deployment of 80-metric-ton mobile cranes, main-deck loaders, and a range of truck–trailer configurations.

Franklin Alvarez, regional director transport engineering Americas at dteq USA, explained: “We used our experience in all modes of transportation along the logistics chain to develop and design cargo frames, enabling the cargo to fit into the aircraft and simultaneously making sure that the cargo can be lifted and lashed safely from the manufacturing yard in Thailand to the final destination in the U.S., resulting in the optimization of the aircraft’s capacity, the reduction of costs for the client and adherence to the tight project schedule.”


Packing Puzzle

For the pre-carriage from the factory to U-Tapao Airport, the local deugro Thailand team prepared detailed road surveys and organized all necessary permits, including gate passes and appropriate approvals for a smooth entry of the cranes and trailers into the airport, ensuring on-time loading upon arrival of each of the individual aircraft and avoiding delays.

For the first AN-124-100 flight, a 34.7-meter-long pipe spool was loaded using a hydraulic trailer and extension ramp, ensuring optimal fit and orientation. Subsequently, a more efficient approach was employed in the second flight, loading four large spools through the rear cargo door with synchronized movements of the onboard crane and hydraulic trailer. For the third flight, 12 spools were transported, with deugro optimizing packing by arranging smaller ones in stackable metal frame bundles.

Once the three AN-124-100 flights were completed, deugro turned to the more cost-efficient Boeing 747 freighter to deliver the remaining spools. The next 14 spools were then delivered across four flights, including one which contained the longest pieces of cargo ever moved on a B-747 freighter.

“The most challenging spool for example had dimensions of over 7.3 x 5.5 x 4.4 meters and could not even fit in the AN-124-100 because it exceeded the height of the aircraft’s cargo hold,” Franklin said. “To fit this spool in the AN- 124-100 without modifying the cargo, we designed special metal frames in which these spools were fixed. This solution solved space restraints while providing lifting and lashing possibilities for pre-, main and on-carriage at the same time.”


Arrival in Houston

Given that the majority of flights landed outside regular business hours, often in the late evening or early morning, the deugro USA teams proactively secured special permissions from the Texas Department of Transportation. This allowed the road transport of components, some exceeding 36 meters, outside the typical daylight hours restriction. As the transport had to leave Houston at rush hour, police escorts were also required to provide additional safety during transit from the metro area.

“To ensure all equipment and resources were available after arrival at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, on time, close coordination with the ground handling agent, truck driver and crane company was paramount, including special gate entry and exit permissions required due to the extreme cargo dimensions,” Jensen said.

With the cargo safely landed at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, the team deployed specialized Scheuerle and Goldhofer trailers, boasting 30-meter decks, for the onward journey to the job site.

“Urgent projects with such a tight schedule, as in this case, prove once more how essential close, transparent and proactive communication and cooperation are,” Jensen added. “Key to successfully delivering such projects safely and according to schedule and budget is a team of experts who have expertise and practical experience in their respective disciplines - be it project management, air chartering or transport engineering.”

Echoing this sentiment, the client noted that “success for this project can be measured by the fact that the cargo arrived on or before the site requirements and did so without any damage or safety incidents.”

With the cargo all on site, the components were installed in record time and the facility returned to operation with a minimum loss of revenue. 


deugro will be exhibiting at Breakbulk Middle East 2024, taking place on 12-13 February at the Dubai World Trade Center in the UAE.