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Issue 2 2017 - Freight Business Journal


///HEAVY LIFT Heavyliſt carriers keep busy


Oil and gas business may have largely dried up, but there are other opportunities for project and heavyliſt carriers and forwarders.


A hard market to predict Antonov Airlines Liſt-off for


It’s an inconvenient fact, but mineral rich areas are oſten also areas of conflict, says Faycal Boumerkhoufa, global director for Volga-Dnepr’s oil and gas division. “Geopolitical issues do play quite a significant role in areas such as Africa and the Middle East,” he says.


This, and a number of other


factors are making the market very difficult to second-guess at the moment. Supply and demand of oil and gas are not in balance and an agreement between the major producers was only reached with some difficulty. Flows of heavy cargo were,


furthermore, reduced by the natural life cycle of the industry, with large scale projects moving to the production phase. Apart from


cargoes needed for maintenance or the occasional emergency, this reduced the need for large-scale shipments. Moreover, a number of


complex and lengthy acquisitions and mergers are occurring between the top players in the oil and gas industry, which has led to a standstill in air logistics services in particular, says Boumerkhoufa. Tellingly, emergency


flights


rather than planned programmes made the biggest contribution to Volga-Dnepr’s revenue in 2016, in contrast with the multi- flight programmes for the likes of Shell and Exxon between 2012 and 2015. But there were unexpected bonuses, such as a a ten-flight programme to provide a timely solution for Qatar Gas, for


Turning on the gas


Volga-Dnepr Airlines recently used a series of An-124-100 and IL-76TD-90VD charter flights, along with the scheduled Boeing 747 freighter services run by its sister airline, AirBridgeCargo (ABC), to help Deugro Airfreight deliver equipment for a new liquefied natural gas plant on the Yamal Peninsula in north-west Siberia. The first flight carried 46


pieces weighing 29 tons, followed three weeks later by a second transport with another 31 pieces totalling 17 tons.


In November, more


equipment destined for the LNG plant was carried on board AirBridgeCargo’s scheduled 747 freighter services from Singapore to Frankfurt and from Shanghai Pudong Airport to Amsterdam, from where the shipments continued their journey by sea. The most recent flights included an IL-76TD-90VD out of Liege and an An-124-100 out of Dalian, China, both at the end of January 2017, to deliver more vital equipment destined for the LNG plant in Sabetta, Russia.


example. Volga-Dnepr’s fleet of An-


124-100 and IL-76TD-90VD specialised freighter aircraſt are these days carrying more shipments for liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, especially since the halting of a number of new oil drilling projects. “One of


the most interesting


services as well as the ad hoc operations of its An-124s and IL76s. But the longer term outlook is


mini


projects this year was the move of a subsea pipeline repair kit to the Middle East which required a series of An-124 and IL76TD flights from the US and Italy,” points out Boumerkhoufa. Volga-Dnepr Group is now


focusing on further opportunities that will allow it use the full power of its ‘Cargo Supermarket’ services, which include its scheduled 747 and 737 freight


Deugro, which was awarded


part of the logistics program for the Yamal project, has already shipped over 700,000 tons of cargo to module yards in China and the project site in Russia. In addition to organizing various


more positive. Major OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers have agreed to limit output, which should provide some breathing- space for the industry. Also, a few projects have now got to the final investment decision status and Volga-Dnepr has already started communicating with the main parties and project forwarders. As well as the long term staples


such as the Middle East, Africa and the US, Boumerkhoufa sees “a very viable market” in Argentina – though he is mindful that people have been describing Lain America as the ‘opportunity of the century’ for the past two decades.


air charters it has operated 16 sea voyages to the remote, ice- bound port of Sabetta through the Northern Sea Route. More flights are planned for


2017 using the Volga-Dnepr Group fleet.


Antonov Airlines used machinery it designed itself to speed loading of its first charter consignment from its new UK headquarters at London Stansted Airport - a British- manufactured helicopter almost 4.4 metres high - en route to south- east Asia on one of its seven AN- 124-100 freighters. It was loaded at the Diamond


Hangar at London Stansted Airport, the new UK home of Antonov Airlines. Commercial manager, Paul Bingley, said: “It


is a wonderful


coincidence that one of the UK office’s first operations should take place on its doorstep.” Antonov Airlines was the first


to offer the 150-tonne payload AN- 124 commercially more than 28 years ago. The airline also operates the world’s


largest aircraſt, the


250-tonne payload AN-225 and a 60-tonne payload AN-22. Business is pretty good in


the niche markets in which Antonov Airlines operates, says business development director, Michael Goodisman. There is plenty of work in aerospace, power generation, construction equipment and ships’ spares, alongside the other traditional staple, oil and gas – although the latter has waned somewhat as world prices have tumbled. Volga-Dnepr Airlines and


Antonov Airlines dissolved their ten year old An-124-100 freighter joint venture, Ruslan International, last December. The two companies


are now marketing their fleets separately, although they continue to collaborate with Antonov on technical aspects of airworthiness and flight safety support. The heavy liſt air cargo industry has been through several different incarnations since Air Foyle was founded at Luton airport in 1989, but the UK and Stansted Airport in


particular have emerged as


a centre of excellence over the years, first with the founding of Air Foyle Heavyliſt and then the Ruslan joint venture, both of which were headquartered at or near the airport. “We have a very experienced


team here, who complement the one in Kiev,” Goodisman explains. The aircraſt are based in Kiev, but most of the commercial and planning work takes place in the UK. “The UK has built up this niche capacity and it is a great country in which to base it – and we have tremendous support from the likes of the Department for International Trade,” adds Goodisman. Antonov Airlines has


meanwhile been carrying out life extension work to make its An124 fleet good for the next 20 years or so, as well as increasing the payload from 120 to 150 tonnes. Their avionics are also being upgraded to bring them into line with ever-increasing demands. There are no plans to add to


the fleet at the moment, a l t houg h


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