Russia's Volga-Dnepr Airlines has delivered more than 80 tons of oil and gas equipment to Cape Town, South Africa via Changi airport on urgent request deploying from its fleet An-124-100 and IL-76TD-90VD freighters, according to Shipping Gazette.
The An-124 flight carried five 13-metre pipes from Singapore weighing 60 tons. The pipes were shipped to Singapore's Changi Airport by truck and then placed carefully onto airport dollies and towed to the aircraft for loading.
The aircraft's onboard cranes were used to load the pipes. The delivery was operated on behalf of logistics company UTI South Africa and was contracted under the Ruslan International An-124 joint venture.
Volga-Dnepr commercial executive Clair Gunn said: "The fast delivery of the risers to Cape Town helped the oil and gas operation to resume production at the rig within a short timescale" avoiding work stoppage with its substantial financial losses.
The Russian cargo carrier recently carried out an urgent transportation of oil equipment from Stavanger, Norway onboard an IL-76TD-90VD cargo aircraft. The shipment of two subsea risers measuring 13.5 metres and 7.5 metres in length was required to complete the fast repair of a broken semi-submersible drilling rig. This equipment was delivered on behalf of French broker ATS International.