IFLN News 2016

IFLN Members Handle Global Brands

Highland Glass Shipment
Highland is playing a key role in supporting the building process of the new Apple campus by shipping valuable and delicate cargo.

    Recent months have seen further examples of IFLN member being contracted to handle the shipping requirements of some of the world's biggest and best-known companies. And they are not letting those global brands down.

    IFLN member Highland Forwarding, for example, is playing a key role in providing ongoing support for the construction of an ultra-modern office campus that Apple is building in Silicon Valley.

   U.S.-based Highland was asked by Apple to oversee the shipping of more than 30 40-foot, open-top containers that contained valuable and delicate laminated glass panes. The cargo has to be moved from Tianjin (Xingang) port in China to the port of Oakland, California, and Highland custom-designed a perfect solution for ensuring the integrity of the consignments.

    On arrival in Oakland, each 2.7 meters, 5-tonne metal rack containing the glass is carefully unloaded by heavy-duty crane at a packing facility just outside the port. The cargo is then checked and reloaded on a stepdeck truck for rapid delivery to the campus site in Cupertino, about 80 kilometers away. Finally, the glass is moved to its final destination at the construction site by a forklift truck.

    This approach saves Apple time and money, said Highland president Radek Maly, and allows for a smooth, fast construction process.

Official Logistics Partner of Olympic Team Finland

    Elsewhere, another IFLN member, CHS Air Logistics (Airlog Group Finland), is helping the Finnish Olympic Committee, after signing a long-term deal as the Committee's freight forwarding partner. At a time when the Finnish Olympic Committee is preparing to send teams to compete in no less than 14 different sporting events (including Summer and Winter Olympics, Paralympics, European Youth Olympic Festival and the Youth Olympic Games), its decision to sign a long-term agreement on cooperation with the Finland-based CHS is a remarkable example of its faith in the logistics specialist.

CHS Logo

    May 2016 will see CHS handle its first major shipment for the Finnish Olympic Committee, when it looks after the sea freight shipment of the equipment of the Finnish Olympic and Paralympic teams between the port of Helsinki and Rio de Janeiro.

    Leena Paavolainen of the Finnish Olympic Committee and director of the unit responsible for the Finnish Olympic team's preparation process for Rio, is delighted to be able to relax in the knowledge that this partnership has been secured and that the Olympic team can be confident that all their equipment will arrive safely and securely at their destination.

    "We are sending by sea to Brazil, for instance, the bikes with which our athletes will cycle in the Olympic Village," Paavolainen explained. "In addition to these, our teams' other equipment as well as various Finnish products and foodstuffs, which are used to create a cozy atmosphere reminding our athletes of home in the Village, are being transported in containers to Rio."

    Heikki Mattola is the director of event logistics for CHS Expo Freight, the division of CHS responsible for sports-related logistics, and thus for handling the Finnish Olympic Committee's shipping needs. He explained, "We have extensive experience in specialized logistics and I have personally taken part in arranging transportation to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Salt Lake City.

    "Now that we are heading towards the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, we have already begun to prepare the smooth running of the Finnish Olympic team's transportation needs. I find this early preparation very important as Brazil’s customs requirements are challenging. I am, however, confident that we will be able to secure functioning transportations, as CHS Expo Freight has well-chosen professional cooperation partners at the destination," Mattola said.


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