helicopters, trucks – and tennis socks. Well, in the case of the last-named, ‘regular’ might be an exaggeration, but it is a good example of the very varied and myriad supplies continually being delivered to drilling and production sites around the world. The oilmen nickname the materials ‘rope, soap and
R
dope’, describing a wide range of miscellaneous supplies to the oil and gas industry, deriving from the ‘rope’ originally used to lift materials onto platforms, the ‘soap’ used to clean equipment and tools, and the lubricants and fuel used to run machinery, known as ‘dope’. Many people probably think of oil industry air logistics primarily in terms of large pieces of
egular air freight shipments for the global oil and gas industry include the likes of million-dollar drill bits, 50-tonne valves, pipes, high-tech tools,
urgently-needed equipment and spare parts being flown on hastily-chartered freighters in ‘cost no object’ operations – but that is far from being the whole story. The oil and gas industry also makes extensive use of standard air freight to ship more routine ‘rope, soap and dope’ supplies and air express/courier services to move smaller critical spare parts and documents. As a result, service providers from virtually every sector
of the global air freight industry, including forwarders, air express operators, courier companies and the bellyhold space of scheduled airlines, as well as operators/charterers of large all-cargo aircraft such as the AN-124/AN-225, now play a role in servicing that market. The continuing strength of the oil price is a key factor
behind the oil and gas sector’s current requirement for a wide-ranging portfolio of air freight requirements, confirmed Laurance Langdon, group project logistics manager for Dubai-headquartered GAC – a worldwide shipping, logistics and marine services group, that lists the oil and gas industry as one of its major business sectors. “With the oil price relatively
AIR LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT 25
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