Volga-Dnepr Airlines and Blue Water Shipping are proud to have been part of a complex transportation to empower the key energy project in Afghanistan

Volga-Dnepr Airlines, the leader in heavy and outsize air cargo deliveries, has performed a series of flights onboard its unique Antonov-124-100 ramp freighter supporting the construction of the first new power plant being built in Afghanistan in more than 40 years and empowered by cutting-edge energy technologies. The flights were operated in cooperation with the Blue Water Shipping which has been nominated and won the Airfreight Solution of the Year award at the Heavy Lift Awards 2020 for this technically complex and challenging project.

430 tons of equipment for Bayat Power Phase 1 project bringing reliable and affordable electricity to more than 100,000 homes in Afghanistan were delivered in 5 flights from Al Maktoum International Airport, UAE, and Tekirdag Corlu Airport, Turkey, to Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan.

The cargo included the 57-ton transformer with supporting equipment and three units of the latest and the world’s first transported Siemens SGT-A45 mobile turbine, the most powerful and efficient mobile turbine, capable of producing more than 300 million KWh of power yearly. Varying from 23 to 30 metres in length and from 60 to 100 tons in weight, the units were installed on trailers and driven into the spacious 36.5 x 6.4 x 4.4 m cargo hold of Antonov-124-100 using special cradles and ramp extension. Before that all the units were physically inspected on-site to guarantee safety of their transportation onboard legendary An-124. For the transformer, the specialists used the rails, ramp extension, and external cranes. All loading equipment and plans were developed by Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ professionals.

“We would like to congratulate our partners – this is indeed a well-deserved prize. At the same time this was the exciting opportunity to be a part of this outstanding and milestone project. We started working on it with our partners in October 2018 with the development of various loading plans for this unique cargo. It was challenging in terms of loading requirements, but our team of experts with three decades’ expertise could solve them all successfully thanks to the ongoing dialogue and cooperation with our partners. We hope, our collaboration will continue in future, and the project will take a good start serving everyday needs of many people in Afghanistan” – commented Ekaterina Andreeva, Commercial Director for Volga-Dnepr Airlines.

Nicolai Norgaard, Manager Special Accounts for Blue Water Shipping, added: “This has been the biggest air charter operation in the history of our company. We, Blue Water Shipping, Bayat Power and all other parties involved can’t explain with words, how thankful we are to Volga-Dnepr Airlines. Having them as a partner for the airlift on this project turned out to be a perfect match. Their customer service, extreme flexibility and skilled technical crew turned out to be very valuable for us to overcome our different challenges for all five flights. The technical crews stood up together with us during all day and night in Al Maktoum to fulfill this project. We developed relationships which we will cherish thought-out our lives. It was truly an inspiring project and we are proud to be a part of it”.