WORLDWIDE – Lots going on at Emirates SkyCargo with several developments this month, including a pair of heavy lift records and the announcement of a couple of new routes. Not satisfied with setting a new record for the heaviest recorded single item ever carried by a Boeing 777F the airline has now broken its own record for a freight forwarding project by shipping an even larger piece via a Boeing 747.

Firstly the cargo carrier shipped a blowout preventer, a specialised valve used to seal, control and monitor oil and gas wells weighing 21,157kgs, from Iraq to Dubai. The piece cubed out at over 8m3 and bordered the limit of the 777’s capacity by less than 500kgs. Nihal Wickrema, Emirates’ Manager Freighter Operations & Charters commented that the preparations by the ground handling staff, dnata in Erbil and SkyCargo personnel in Dubai, had been impeccable.

Now the cargo airline has transported its heaviest ever single piece, a 36 tonne rudder section for an urgent delivery from the shipyard in Korea to Dubai using a Boeing 747. The move entailed two 50 tonne cranes and two high loaders to stow and offload the massive piece via the aircraft’s hinged nose section.

A Boeing 747-400F will also feature in the newly announced service which SkyCargo will in future be offering between Dubai and Ghana every Friday. Parent airline Emirates has been operating a passenger service to Accra, with a weekly cargo capacity of 120 tonnes each way in the bellyhold of an Airbus A330-200, since 2004. The new service, to Kotoka International Airport, will operate via Lome, Togo, on the outbound journey and return to Dubai through Frankfurt, Germany. Emirates has also started a regular service to Buenos Aires due to commence on the 3rd January 2012.