Algeria – Egypt – Libya – Morocco – Tunisia.
It is often overlooked that the Northern African coast is only a few hours away by ferry from the European mainland.
When the customer needed urgent spares for a drilling rig, operating south of Marrakesh in Morocco, his first thought was air freight. However it soon became apparent that due to the size and weight of the cargo, a large freighter was needed, with the cost running in the region of £100.000. By routing direct to Spain, utilising the ferry Algeciras/Tangier, the overall transit time was only 72 hours longer than by air – but with a saving of over £75.000!
Faced with delivering a helicopter to Cairo, the customer asked if a trailer movement was feasible and, if so, what it would cost. When we explained that the transit time was a matter of days, routing through France to Venice, connecting with the weekly ferry to Alessandria, for the short hop to Cairo – he was “more than impressed”, particularly when he saw the price!
The earliest project to Libya involved delivering replacement radar equipment to Tripoli International Airport, a pre-condition being that no transhipment was allowed, the units had to remain on the same trailers throughout, under the care of a security approved driver.
Finally, the largest project to Tunisia (military exercises at Sidi Ahmed) involved over seventy vehicles, sailing on a chartered, direct RoRo ferry from Marseilles to Tunis.
