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Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) was recently contracted to source ocean transportation options for the return of offshore marine equipment from the United Arab Emirates to Germany. The cargo consisted of 10 packages of pile driving accessories for onshore and offshore installation, including 13m long, 123 tonnes hydraulic hammers. For this job, WSS managed a range of tasks including receiving packages on trailers from a supply vessel; inland transportation to Musaffah port, Abu Dhabi; export customs clearance and inspection; vessel inward and outward clearance; stevedoring operations and ocean freight to Hamburg.
According to Niju Joseph John, sales development manager for WSS in Abu Dhabi, the project represented a genuine challenge. “The massive weight and huge dimensions of these components required a very specialised set of skills that few of our competitors can manage,” he says. “Our ability to combine both our ship’s agency and maritime logistics competence is a significant advantage for complex logistics projects like this.” Since the client was based in Europe, WSS teamed up with colleagues in Germany to support the effort and secure a part-charter for the ocean leg back to Hamburg.
Christer Bonde, regional maritime logistics director for WSS, says the company aims to be recognised as the preferred logistics provider to the oil and gas industry, especially offshore. “We are teaming up with ship owners and operators that can provide articulated tugs and modular barges suitable for the ocean transportation of oilfield equipment,” he says. “That allows owners to transport large modules from supply locations in the Far East and Europe directly to the installation, thus avoiding trans-shipping via local ports.”
