Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Both Earth and Outer Space Research Cargo Figures Large in Russian Group’s Freight Portfolio

Heavy Lift Transport of Oil and Gas plus Satellite Traffic This Month for Moscow Based Group
Shipping News Feature

RUSSIA – ITALY – US – UK – BRAZIL – The oversize freighter aircraft of Volga-Dnepr Airlines have had a busy month with yet another contribution to the support of space exploration plus a considerable milestone with the company’s 1,100th flight for customers in the oil and gas industry with its latest cargo of 45 tonnes of equipment from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Prestwick, Scotland. We have written before of the Russian group’s singular ability to transfer freight associated with off planet business and the latest movement saw the transport of the Pressurised Cargo Module (PCM) of the Cygnus resupply spacecraft from Turin, Italy, to Wallops Island, US.

The PCM was packed into a special container and was carried aboard the airline’s An-124-100 ‘Ruslan’ freighter along with supporting equipment to the launch site in Virginia State. Experts from Thales Alenia Space Italia, which produced the PCM, accompanied the cargo to monitor the special temperature conditions required during the transportation. This was the third flight completed by Volga-Dnepr carrying modules of the Cygnus spacecraft, following earlier deliveries in August 2011 and July 2013.

The contract was completed within the Ruslan International An-124 joint venture on behalf of French freight forwarding group SDV Logistique International, a longstanding customer of Ruslan International. The Cygnus resupply spacecraft was developed by the Orbital Sciences Corporation in the US under the NASA programme for ‘Commercial Orbital Transportation Services’ to ship supplies to the International Space Station.

On the energy front the Brazilian produced cargo consisted of specialist equipment for a water-driven excavation system and auxiliary equipment and will be used for drilling operations and seabed engineering. The IL-76TD-90VD freighter flight was ordered by Chapman Freeborn Airchartering Fretamento e Logística do Brasil Ltda.

This month Volga-Dnepr Airlines has been participating in the annual Australian Oil & Gas Exhibition & Conference in Perth, an exhibition which brought together more than 500 exhibitors from 20 countries and attracted over 15,000 visitors interested in the progress of the oil and gas industry, a field in which the airline has gained much experience in recent years as Alexander Kartashov, Sales Executive of Volga-Dnepr Airlines confirmed, saying:

“The delivery of oil and gas equipment across the globe is one of the key areas of Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ expertise. This milestone flight was the 1,100th oil and gas transportation service by Volga-Dnepr. To date, our fleet of An-124-100 and IL-76TD-90VD cargo aircraft has safely delivered some 74,000 tons of equipment for oil and gas industry customers. In our 23-year history, Volga-Dnepr Airlines has become an acknowledged expert in this field, cooperating with such leading international corporations as ExxonMobil, Total, Shlumberger, Cameron, and National Oilwell Varco.”

Photo: The Cygnus unit in transit.