Big But Not So Easy!

Tuscor Lloyds moves huge underwater substructures

When a well known specialised manufacturing company needed to move some outlandishly large and cumbersome cargo for the off-shore industry, they needed someone with the expertise and knowledge to get the job done without too much fuss and expense. On a limited timeframe and budget, Tuscor Lloyds was asked to help out. Distance was always going to be another major factor –  the cargo had to be moved from the East Coast of, Scotland to Melbourne, Australia.

So how does one move several tonnes of finished steel framing to the other side of the world without damaging or, worse losing it? Nick Rodriguez of Tuscor Lloyds gives us an insight into the heavy lift freight business:

“This freight was so large we actually had to charter a vessel to get the cargo from Scotland to Zeebrugge,” he reveals, “amazingly this went very smoothly. The client arranged his own transport to the ship’s side, the sea was calm, and we craned the pieces with no problems onto the vessel.”

He goes on, “As the cargo came to mainland Europe, the weather started to deteriorate. We ended up unloading the cargo in a blizzard but managed to get it onto the second vessel we had chosen bound for Australia just in time.”

As it turned out the timeframe for this part of the operation was extremely short. The cold snap affecting Northern Europe was beginning to cause chaos throughout the continent’s transport hubs and with Christmas coming, failure to make the connection to the next vessel would have badly delayed the cargo.

“Fortunately Tuscor Lloyds has an extremely professional and tenacious stevedoring partner in port, who ensured the transfer of the cargo went smoothly and safely,” Nick explains, “once it was on the second vessel we could breathe a sigh of relief as the cargo left Europe on its way to a very warm and sunny climate of Australia.”

“Our client was delighted,” Nick smiles, “they were concerned the sailing would be delayed due to the poor weather, a little email in the early hours of Sunday morning allayed their fears, confirming the cargo was on the way to its final destination.”

People sometimes wonder at how industry is able to achieve difficult tasks efficiently and competently.  Sometimes it seems that red tape does not exist, or that distance and size do not matter.  But Nick does not want to give too much away: “If people think Tuscor Lloyds can make a difficult job look easy then that’s a sure sign we are serving the client in the right way”.

Tuscor Lloyds’ business is diversified in two key areas, general cargo project work and liner work comprising full and part load containers. The company also arranges out-of-profile shipments for the oil, gas and construction industries. Its liner division is heavily involved in the South American, Central American and North African markets, offering weekly shipments from various North European Ports.