Hurricanes Cause Headache for Naval Special Project Freight Forwarding Shipment

UK – HAWAII – Project freight forwarding outfit Tuscor Lloyds found itself in a race against time recently when shipping some particularly awkward shaped anchors and shackles for a client in the naval construction industry. The out of gauge cargo required the use of three flat rack containers for the ocean carriage but it was the weather, in the form of two major hurricanes, which were to prove the biggest headache for the Manchester based agent.

Following collection from Sheffield the anchors travelled the 200 or so miles to the Port of Felixstowe to be secured to the flat racks with chains and tensioners. After being surveyed and passed for sea-transport, they were then delivered quayside for loading onto the container vessel which had been prepared for receiving the out of gauge cargoes prior to arrival. A gantry crane, fitted with specialist heavy lift gear, was used to lift the cargoes and carefully position the flatrack containers on board surrounded by standard and reefer containers also sharing the vessel.

The containers and their nine tonnes of cargo were transhipped in Los Angeles to another ocean vessel for the voyage to Honolulu, being stowed on mafi trailers to await the second ship which arrived two days later. Port gantry cranes with heavy lift gear transferred the cargo aboard the second vessel, all as the weather forecasts grew more pessimistic by the day.

After a race against the storms the ship docked uneventfully but the worsening weather meant she could not be discharged. Both Hurricane Iselle, the strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall in Hawaii in recorded history, and Hurricane Julio which passed north of the Hawaiian Islands and luckily did not cause too much disruption, were active in the region and it was three days before the port was given the OK to begin unloading cargo and Tuscor Lloyds Projects Team managed to negotiate for the out of gauge project shipment to be unloaded as a high priority cargo.

After on site surveyors had thoroughly inspected the anchors to check the ravages of the weather had left them unaffected the flat racks were loaded aboard trucks for the final road haulage leg to the customers door, all arriving in good order.