Urgent Seismic Airfreight Shipment Saves Client $1 Million
04 July 2008
Urgently needed seismic vessel spares were flown halfway around the world following close collaboration between charter broker Air Partner Freight and international freight forwarder PBS International Freight.
PBS asked Air Partner for emergency help to move the 50,000kg of cargo from the UK to Australia when attempts to move it quickly using scheduled services failed.
Speed was of the essence owing to the offshore vessel incurring heavy penalties of thousands of dollars a day for not completing its survey.
Gary Costello, managing director of oil and gas industry specialist PBS International Freight, commented: “We contacted Air Partner to assist with the emergency shipment of seismic vessel spares and cables because it was imperative that the vessel was restored to working order as quickly as possible.
“We investigated using scheduled means to move the cargo - which increased to 60,000kg once additional support equipment had been drop shipped from other EU and EFTA countries - but this option was just too slow. Chartering was the only alternative and once contacted Air Partner took on the challenge, searched the market, quickly found a competitive solution and organised the schedule.
“It is estimated the speed of the operation saved our client USD$1 million in fines.”
Air Partner Freight, a specialist in moving urgent and outsize cargo, located a Boeing 747F within a matter of hours of the initial request for assistance. The aircraft was in position to fly from Manston Airport in Kent six days later when all the cargo had been consolidated, undergone decompression security screening, built for export and trucked to location from Heathrow.
Senior freight analyst Jamie Peters supervised the loading and on leaving Manston the Boeing, the only suitable aircraft for the task, flew to Australia via a stop in Dubai for refuelling and a crew change.
Richard Smith, manager of Air Partner Freight, said: “Air Partner moves vital time-critical cargo, particularly for the energy industry, on a daily basis and we were only too happy to assist PBS.”
Both PBS International Freight and Air Partner Freight, one of the world’s most successful aviation companies with 23 offices globally, are based near London Gatwick Airport.
