Volga-Dnepr completes a complex project to move an 83-tonne boiler after two-month meticulous planning

Volga-Dnepr Airlines (VDA) and Fracht FWO Inc have orchestrated the delivery of a boiler from Milano, Italy to Lincoln, Nebraska, USA to ramp up the local production capacity of the plant in Sioux City, Iowa. Almost two months of thorough planning with active involvement from both European and USA teams of both companies, design and production of a special cradle, tackling of customs issues with an additional stop-over in Bangor and loading procedures in Milano livestreamed on YouTube channel of the customer – these are just a few ‘behind-the scenes’ of the daily all-cargo operations. 

Once the cargo request was received the Volga-Dnepr team started working on it bringing its best and most experienced minds into the loop. This resulted in a perfect design of a 9-tonne cradle later produced by the shipper and delivered to Malpensa Airport for effective loading procedures. The whole flight lasted two days and consisted of 5 legs with tech stops in Liege, Keflavik, Gander and Bangor. The latter being included for smooth international customs procedures. 

After landing at Nebraska, the special equipment weighing over 93 tonnes was trucked to its final destination in Iowa to be assembled on the plant. 

Ekaterina Andreeva, Commercial Director of Volga-Dnepr Airlines, highlights: “This has been one of the most memorable projects for our team in years – challenging loading, complex routing, production of a dedicated cradle, provision of special equipment from the Volga-Dnepr’s equipment store – these are all the pillars of the outsized and superheavy charter operations we are most experienced in. We are happy that more than 2,000 people worldwide could follow the live stream loading in Milano – such initiatives create more visibility for the air cargo industry and encourage young specialists to start thinking about their possible career paths with us. We would like to thank our customer, Fracht FWO Inc, for well-coordinated work and trust. In fact, this was a second charter flight operated within 7 days with them and we are proud to support them with our unique freighter solutions”. 

“This is the 5th aircraft in 2021 that The Fracht Group have chartered with VDA this year and as usual, the shipment moved smoothly with a very happy customer. We consider VDA a strategic partner of Fracht and look forward to more charters in 2022 whilst strengthening our partnership.” Chris Schumacher, VP Airfreight, Fracht FWO Inv. 

For the last 8 months of 2021 Volga-Dnepr Airlines operated more than 350 charters globally delivering over 16,000 tonnes of dedicated cargo and supporting its customers amid the continuing capacity constraints, COVID-19 restrictions, supply chain disruptions in certain countries and airports. Together with other carriers within Volga-Dnepr Group, the company works within the Cargo Supermarket concept guaranteeing the provision of the most effective logistics solutions.