Juice-making plant poses its fair share of challenges

THE CHALLENGES of project cargo go well beyond pure transport and logistics. Moving abnormal loads along mountain tracks in rural villages and removing beehives from partially constructed plants were all in a day’s work when Kodiak Shipping arranged the transport of a juice-making plant from Italy to Letsitele in Mpumalanga recently. Three sections weighing from 22-33 tons as well as a 40ft container of fragile parts made up the consignment, which was shipped to Durban and road-hauled to Letsitele. “But all except the container were abnormal loads, which demanded the assistance of our specialist partner Truckit,” CEO Colin Bowring told FTW. “We were forced to take the cargo down most of the back roads to avoid bridges and tunnels. “Kodiak also arranged the placement of special equipment on site - one crane capable of lifting 45 tons with a boom height of 60 metres, and a second standard 30 ton unit.” Faced with little more than a track to gain access to the site, the company was forced to use a road grader to help the abnormal loads negotiate the area. “At times, because of the steep gradient, we had to pull the heavier load with the road grader,” he said. “We then got to work installing the cooling/separating tower in time for the Italian engineers to organise the final connections, only to find that bees had set up home in the hollow framework.” But overcoming the most outlandish obstacles is what project logistics is all about. And for Gauteng-based Kodiak Freight it’s part of a broad based product offering which includes clearing and forwarding, brokering military and general cargo deals, and air charter.