A special loading system developed for the transportation of long cargoes provided the perfect solution to help load a 35m telescopic crane bridge onboard a Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ An-124-100 freighter for its delivery to Rio de Janeiro.
The flight, organised under the Ruslan International An-124 joint venture between Antonov Airlines and Volga-Dnepr Airlines, carried the 40t shipment to Brazil from Nanjing in China on behalf of Kuehne + Nagel.
The fifth generation ramp loading system was designed and manufactured by engineers at Volga-Dnepr. This was the first time it had been used to load an actual cargo. Based on the success of this flight and the analysis of Volga-Dnepr’s engineers, the airline has already identified other potential uses for the system, such as enabling the loading of very long aerospace shipments.
Specialists in Volga-Dnepr’s cargo planning department developed the technology in a short timescale and delivered the system to China having approved the technical aspects of the system with the shipper and consignee, as well as the loading and unloading plans in China and Brazil respectively.
The flight has subsequently enabled Volga-Dnepr’s engineers to update the operations manual for the loading equipment based on the experience gained from moving the bridge. This includes data for the time required to assemble and breakdown the equipment which will be used for the future transportation of other long and outsized cargoes.