Chapman Freeborn and Fiege Logistics Switzerland have completed a high-profile project to transport outsize oil and gas equipment totalling 232 tonnes from Germany to the United Arab Emirates.

The charter specialist’s Germany team utilised the giant Antonov AN-225 Freighter and an additional Boeing B747-400 Freighter aircraft to deliver the time-critical cargo from Leipzig Halle Airport and Frankfurt–Hahn Airport to Abu Dhabi International Airport on 20 May.

The AN-225 operation at Leipzig Halle Airport was closely managed by Chapman Freeborn’s project manager Christian Becker. The 16-hour loading process to manoeuvre 153 tonnes of cargo involved using the AN-225’s ramp-loading apparatus and internal winch, in addition to an external heavy-lift crane.

The largest of the six pieces handled was a compressor weighing 79 tonnes and measuring over 14 metres in length.

Following the successful loading of the outsize cargo, the AN-225 departed and flew to Abu Dhabi via Cairo for refuelling.

At the same time, the closely-synchronised 747-400F operation at Frankfurt–Hahn Airport was overseen by Chapman Freeborn representatives, with a further consignment of nearly 80 tons of cargo successfully loaded and dispatched to Abu Dhabi.

The mammoth charter project required in-depth planning and precise preparation – including coordination meetings, site visits and pre-flight assessments of the cargo to advise on the loadability of the freight.

The design of the unique AN-225 is based on its smaller sibling the AN-124 – an aircraft type regularly used by Chapman Freeborn to transport heavy and outsize air cargo around the world, in addition to a variety of western-built freighters.