Those 163 tons of outsize machinery originated in India and were destined to support a power plant project in Kumasi, Ghana – a complex operation that required clever planning against the clock. The job began with Air Charter Service (ACS) taking a call from a client in Mumbai, who urgently needed to move a substantial volume of machinery and components to Ghana.
Shahvez Jafary, Chief Commercial Officer of ACS’s Indian operations, revealed: “The initial packing list included some outsize pieces that weighed more than 12.5 tons and were more than 10 meters in length, with the total weight of the cargo totaling more than 150 tons.” However, the plan did not stay fixed for long. The list went through several revisions in the run-up to the flights, and the client only confirmed final details – more than 110 pieces in all – just days prior to the requested departure. Despite the tight turnaround, ACS found an efficiency gain: “Working hard alongside the operator’s loadmaster team and the client, we managed to use only two aircraft instead of the initially planned three, meaning a significant saving for our customer. With the machinery parts that measured 10 meters long, we needed to use a nose-loading B747 freighter, utilizing another B747 for the remainder of the shipment. Two external cranes that we sourced for the client were used to move the bulkiest items onto the nose-loading freighter, while the smaller components were palletized for the second aircraft. After the flights landed in Accra, the crucial machinery was safely offloaded and transported the remainder of the journey by truck, to the power project, in Kumasi,” Jafary reported.
