SkyCargo sets record
15 / 11 / 2011
EMIRATES SkyCargo has entered the freight record books after transporting the heaviest recorded single item ever carried by a 777F.
The airline carried a 21.157-tonne – including packaging – specialised valve used to seal, control and monitor oil and gas wells. It was just short of the aircraft’s 21.624-tonne limit.
The blowout preventer, which was transported from Iraq’s Erbil International Airport to Dubai [UAE] would normally be transported by sea, but the customer required a faster solution. The shipment measured 2.25m by 1.9m by 1.9m.
“Carrying cargo of a weight so close to the 777’s limit was very challenging,” Nihal Wickrema, Emirates’ manager freighter operations and charters, commented. “The highest level of care and precision planning was required by ground-handling operations at both airports. The weight had to be spread along the aircraft’s structure and the shape of the item was such that it could potentially have rolled during the flight so we had to ensure there was sufficient restraint in every direction.”
SkyCargo worked closely with dnata, the ground handling agent in Erbil, the customer Starlight and its delivery agent in Erbil.
