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One tank weighed about 120 thousand tonnes.[/caption]
In the world of international transport, anything is possible. But with foresight and good planning, delays caused by many unexpected twists and turns can be avoided. The Covid-19 epidemic is no longer an unexpected turn of events, but the Ever Given ship getting stuck in the Suez Canal in March was exactly the kind of event that is impossible to foresee when planning international project transport.
- Fortunately, we survived that too with only my heart taking a couple of extra beats, says Tom Lunabba, Project Director at FREJA Transport & Logistics Oy, about the recent project transport.
Ever Given was refloated before the project ship carrying the LNG tanks was in the Suez Canal. The Ever Given container ship has still not been unloaded, and the goods left in its holds are still missing from the shelves of shops in Europe.
Project Forwarding as a part of a major change
The LNG tanks arrived on schedule in Turkey in April. The tanks are part of a major global change as large ships and tankers switch from diesel and oil to gas. It was a long-term project that started already last year.
The LNG tanks were first transported to the port of Shanghai by barge, from where they were shipped and transported to Turkey. In Turkey, the tanks were loaded onto trailers and then transported by barge to the shipyard.
- Delays in this project were caused by problems at the ports.
Before reaching Shanghai, the ship stopped in Sri Lanka, where there was a shortage of terminal workers, and unloading took longer than usual due to the pandemic. The ship then faced a real traffic jam at the port of Shanghai.
- It is not an easy situation for shipping companies either, with costs of between 16 and 17 thousand dollars a day while the ship is waiting. In the world of semi-liner shipping, we operate in a world of reservations, and in this case, the problems in the Sri Lankan port messed up the schedule, and the ship missed its reservation and had to queue.
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Huge LNG tanks are part of a global shift in maritime transport from diesel and oil to gas.[/caption]
According to Lunabba, the girth of the LNG tanks, which was around six metres, was a decisive factor in this project transport. The length of the tanks was less than 26 metres.
- Sometimes, it is possible to get project shipments in container ships, but often it makes more sense to use heavy-lift ships to ensure that the unloading of the cargo goes smoothly.
Own fleet plays an important role in the smooth running of international transport
FREJA's advantage has been its extensive in-house capacity for road transport, with 850 trailers and 80 temperature-controlled trailers available to move goods out of Finland and to the main European ports.
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