War didn’t stop an XXL load
A long and winding route to Russia.
The suspension of some transport services to and from Russia also affected one of XXL Translog’s recent heavylift tasks. The freight nevertheless reached its destination.
The colourful field of project cargo and heavylift logistics is no stranger to drama. But the way in which the links in the supply chain required to shift a locomotive to Russia broke recently represented the coldest shower ever for Gabriela Schuster, managing director of the Dortmund-based heavylift enterprise XXL Translog. Even her more than 27 years of experience in the sector hadn’t prepared her for this.
Schuster knows her Russian business field very well. There were times when around 80% of XXL Translog’s projects touched on Eastern Europe. Since the onset of sanctions in 2014, however, the high-margin business has come under such pressure that the company has also prioritised other European traffic.
“About 30% of our business is still with Eastern Europe,” Schuster explains, “but we’ve now made a name for ourselves in the market as a problem-solver for special cases. Although the outbreak of Covid-19 and the development of fuel prices are currently eroding margins disproportionately for the transport of oversized and heavy cargo, we’re nevertheless keeping our eye on the ball.”
This applied recently to an order from a Dutch customer, for whom XXL was tasked with shipping a locomotive from the United Kingdom to St Petersburg. At the first attempt the date of the cargo’s stopover in Antwerp turned out to be the problem. The freight was delivered on 24 February – the day Russia invaded Ukraine. “That triggered a chain reaction that ruptured our transport chain,” as Schuster elaborated.
“First, the Finnlines link to St Petersburg scheduled for 25 February didn’t materialise,” Schuster reported. “We were given 4 March as the next date.” But the service didn’t take place that day either, and on top of this, due to the sanctions, a new customs declaration was requested from the UK shipping point for a shipment on 12 March.
In the midst of these preparations, the news burst on 9 March that the ferry connections to Russia had been suspended indefinitely. The outbreak of war, sanctions and some authorities’ communication deficits made the situation more than confusing.
“After some to-ing and fro-ing over costs we managed to agree that Finnlines would take over the Mafi trailer and space fees. But we were still obliged to shift the goods to their final destination.”
XXL Translog reloaded the cargo back onto trucks at its own expense and then sent the locomotive to St Petersburg by ship via Liepaja (Latvia). A late, but a happy ending!
More to XXL Translog than just services to and from Russia
The company has handled four other transports to Russia since that nation invaded Ukraine. “There are scrupulous controls by Russian customs on transit traffic these days,” Schuster reported. Traffic jams at the Russian-Latvian border crossing Terehova, for example, involving more than 600 trucks, are as common as two weeks’ waiting until the goods are cleared through customs. “We’ll continue though – as long as the market isn’t completely blocked,” Schuster said resolutely.
Even if the Russian and Belarusian authorities stop general consumer goods imports – foodstuffs, medicines and project cargo shipments are set to remain exempt from these regulations, according to the latest information. Heavy goods transporters are used to extraordinary conditions.