Freight forwarding and project logistics specialist Deugro has arranged the transport of 87 metric tons of time-critical valve equipment for the Amur gas processing plant project in Russia. Deugro arranged three full-charter flights for Tecnimont from Milan, Italy to Blagoveshchensk, Russia.

The schedules were exactly planned in accordance with equipment ready dates at manufacturing sites to support ongoing construction at the project site.

Deugro was awarded the delivery of urgent equipment directly to the project site because the impact of Covid-19 forced the client to switch the mode of transportation from road to air to keep the time schedule of the site construction. While the transit time for land transportation would have resulted in around 35 days, air transportation allowed the time to be shortened to less than 20 hours for each flight.

Deugro relies on Ilyushin II-76

For the transportation, Deugro’s experts chose the Ilyushin Il-76, a ramp cargo aircraft which offers a large cargo hold and the ability of self-sufficient loading and offloading using the on-board internal crane system. For each flight, Deugro arranged the pick-up from the suppliers’ facilities and the delivery to Malpensa Airport in Milan, Italy by road. Deugro coordinated the terminal cargo handling and loading into the aircrafts.

Due to the long flight distance of almost 8,000 km, all three flights needed a technical stopover. Since all prior arrangements for offloading at the destination airport Ignatyevo in Blagoveshchensk, Russia were also made by Deugro with the local customs office, every batch of equipment was safely transferred onto trucks directly after offloading from the aircraft. This ensured the cargo reached the final destination at the project site in the city of Svobodny, Russia on time.

Local presence and internal air charter desk

Deugro’s strong local presence at both the origin and destination countries was crucial for ensuring a smooth and safe operation at every stage of the operation. Working together with strategic partners to deliver these critical shipments, Deugro’s experts were also on hand providing supervision along the project.

“One important ingredient to the success of this complex transport was the ability to organize these air charter flights with our own internal air charter desk—something that Deugro has invested in by building a team of experts well-known in the industry and with a cargo airline and air charter brokerage background. Decades of experience in air chartering and a deep understanding of how it works from the airline or air charter brokerage background allowed deugro’s team to arrange a flawless operation and carefully manage every last-moment challenge, which is always part of the game when it comes to arranging urgent operations by air,” stated Marco Furgada, branch manager Segrate/Milan, Deugro Italy.

One of the last-minute challenges was difficult weather conditions on the departure day of the first flight. While all flight arrangements were planned and prepared, thicky fog and low visibility on the runway at the intended airport for the technical stop in Kazan, Russia delayed the departure from Milan. After monitoring weather reports and forecast updates, the airport for the technical stop was changed to Samara, Russia which allowed the flight to proceed. To ensure the flight schedule was maintained, Deugro coordinated with the carrier on short notice to provide the crew swap to the new airport, allowing the aircraft to continue its journey to Blagoveshchensk immediately after refueling without any lost time.

“A key factor for the success of this complex transport was the continuous alignment with us, Deugro constantly kept in touch finding solutions, alternatives and new ideas to respond at the unpredictable events. We think that having Deugro on the floor with us, share competences, having a clear vision of our needs could make the difference and allowed to achieve great results,” said Tecnimont.