FEATURE PROJECT CARGO OIL AND GAS
division, for Danish worldwide forwarder Blue Water Shipping, points out that the company is involved with all aspects of air logistics for the oil and gas industry, “from small courier shipments up to charters of AN-124/AN-225 aircraft”. Many oil and gas sector air freight
shipments are planned movements rather than emergency shipments, especially where the construction of new FPSOs (floating production, storage and offloading units) and rigs is concerned, he observes. “A lot of those projects are being pushed through very fast at the
Bek
large, heavy items are only one aspect of air logistics for the oil and gas sector
moment and the contractors have a lot of milestones to achieve to either get a bonus or avoid a big penalty. So, often it can make sense for them to air freight urgent components which they were initially planning to send by ocean,” he explained. However, Bek stressed that large,
heavy items are only one aspect of air logistics for the oil and gas sector. “In fact, I would say 60-70 percent of traffic transported by air for that industry is general freight moving as regular palletised shipments,” he stated. “We also do small courier shipments
and even hand-carries for oil and gas sector customers. Recently, for example, we had two hand-carries in one week from Esbjerg in Denmark to
Houston which involved sending a person with a suitcase – one had an oil sample and the other some urgent documents.”
Express opportunities Predictably, the frequently urgent nature of energy sector air freight shipments generates substantial business opportunities for air express operators. Jeremy Skyrme, country general manager in Bahrain for TNT Express, provides evidence of that when he outlines that company’s involvement with the oil and gas industry in the Middle East. “A lot of the oil and gas market traffic
we carry into the Middle East is smaller spare parts of typically five to 40 kilos, the majority of it originating in Europe or the US. But time is money in that industry and if a 500-kilo part is required in a rig-down situation then they will send it express – if the situation is urgent, they don’t necessarily talk about price,” he stated. However, speed of delivery is not the
only consideration for energy sector companies when it comes to selecting an express service, Skyrme continued. There is also the more basic issue of who can actually provide the service required. Expanding on that point, he explained that major oil and gas industry service companies often have operations throughout the Middle East and they require the regional distribution of parts and tools as well as intercontinental movements. “They might have a lot of tool movements between say Dhahran in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, so as an express operator you also need to be able to service that requirement,” Skyrme remarked. Another facet of TNT’s work for the oil and gas industry, he continued, is the provision of return and repair services for items such as directional drilling tools, pieces of equipment which are typically five to six metres long and worth US$1 million each. “People in this industry often only keep three or four pieces of such equipment in stock in a particular country, so when one is damaged they want it moved quickly back to a repair centre,
28 AIR LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT
situation is urgent, they don’t
“If the
necessarily talk about price”
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