Monday, June 15, 2015

Another Giant Heavy Lift Air Freight Project Completed to Supply Suez

Russian Group Transports Canal Power Upgrade
Shipping News Feature

US – EGYPT – Of late all talk of canal works has tended to be the extensive works currently under way to upgrade the Panama Canal but recently Russian heavy lift and project air freight specialist Volga-Dnepr Airlines has used one of its giant aircraft to deliver a 28 tonne shipment of power stations from New York to Cairo, Egypt, that will be used to supply the Suez Canal widening project.

Before transportation on board one of Volga-Dnepr’s IL-76TD-90VD freighters, the airline’s engineers needed to provide their technical expertise to ensure the power stations would fit into the aircraft’s cargo hold. The units, mounted into special 6-metre cradles, were originally too high for the IL-76 but this issue was quickly resolved when Volga-Dnepr engineers recommended demounting the top and side parts of the cradle to enable the cargo to be loaded using the airline’s wing-lift system, skates and rails.

The power stations will be used to support the project to widen the Suez Canel, which is due to be completed in August 2015. Volga-Dnepr completed the transportation on behalf of the Egyptian air charter broker Wi Fli Aviation Solutions, one of the airline’s longstanding partners.

The global transportation of energy equipment is one of the key areas of Volga-Dnepr’s air charter expertise. Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ fleet of An-124-100 and IL-76TD-90VD are regularly called upon by customers to deliver rotors and generators, mobile power plants and transformers, turbines and heat exchangers. Since Volga-Dnepr Airlines commenced operations in 1990 it has operated 763 flights and carried 51,923 tons of cargo for customers in the energy industry.