Since its first L-100 Hercules charter over 45 years ago, Chapman Freeborn has built up a global network of locations and developed niche expertise with both Russian and Western-built freighters that regularly sees the company moving some of the world’s heaviest and outsized cargo.
Whether it’s transporting a 97.5 ton gas turbine rotor to the Middle East or flying an 18-metre long bus to Central Asia, these are five of the company’s favourite monster moves.
AN-225 – 170 tons – Chapman Freeborn and NATCO Global Transport Solutions & Projects successfully coordinated an Antonov AN-225 cargo charter to transport a 170-ton load from Switzerland to Bahrain. The joint operation to move a gigantic GT13E2 gas turbine rotor, a generator rotor and other outsize technical equipment to the Middle East was the first time the world’s largest fixed-wing aircraft had visited Zurich Airport. The six-hour loading process involved both the AN-225’s ramp-loading apparatus in addition to two heavy-lift cranes.
The largest of the pieces handled was a gas turbine rotor weighing 97.5 tons and measuring over 13 metres in length.
AN-124 – 85.5 tons – in cooperation with Antonov Airlines, we arranged for an Antonov AN-124 cargo aircraft to transport an 85.5-ton capping stack as part of a feasibility study on behalf of Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL). The successful test flight – the first time ever that a complete capping stack has been transported by air – means that oil companies can now reach faraway oil spills much faster and cap the wells more quickly.
IL-76 – 20 tons – Our Italian team coordinated the airlift of an 18-metre, 20-ton Iveco city bus from Italy to Central Asia. Chapman Freeborn’s cargo charter experts faced the challenge of loading the oversized cargo into a hold only marginally bigger than the vehicle, and our loadmasters had to reduce the angle of the aircraft’s extension ramp using special equipment to allow the bus to drive safely on board.
AN-225 – 150 tons – Our Brazil team completed an Antonov AN-225 project to transport four giant pieces of oil and gas equipment totalling almost 150 tons from Houston to Sao Paulo. The charter was again the first time the AN-225 had been used for an operation in South America. The equipment formed part of a Petrobras refinery project in Paulinia, in the state of Sao Paulo.
B747-800F – 80 tons – This list would not be complete without including the Boeing 747-800F – a new large-capacity freighter for the 21st century. We recently moved an 80-ton energy component, but our favourite consignment was a 20-foot unmanned sea vessel which we transported, along with associated equipment, from the UK to the USA. The vessel pushes the boundaries of autonomous technology and will be used for subsea positioning and surveying in the oil and gas industry.
Gerhard Coetzee is responsible for African cargo charter operations at Chapman Freeborn Airchartering.
