Never Fearing the Bumpy Road and Carefully Creating a Level Highway

The most important part of this project was 80 kilometers of water pipes that connected the water source to the Ghanaian capital of Accra. Composed of 14,000 ductile cast iron pipes that are 6 meters long and 1.2 meters in diameter, and weigh 3 tons. These large-diameter ductile cast iron pipes are very demanding to load, unload, and transport overland. Even very slight collisions between pipes could easily cause cracks or holes in the cement linings, which could result in the scrapping of the entire pipe. The ductile cast iron pipes are expensive to make and have long production cycles. Very few large factories are equipped to make them, so any damage to these pipes would have a significant impact on the project’s quality and completion date. We put rigorous standards in place for the shipping process, to ensure that no harm would come to the pipes in their journey from China to Ghana.

The first batch of 1,334 pipes for the project weighed 15,000 freight tons. Based on intense preparations and scientific calculations, we created plans for careful unloading at port, vehicle allocation, and padding the pipes for the overland journey. After finishing port export declarations and loading the ship, the pipes set sail on the Jian Qiang on September 18, 2011.

On October 27, the Jian Qiang arrived at Ghana’s Tema Port and the cargo was unloaded. In order to prevent damage to the cargo, the project team trained dock workers, closely supervised the entire process, provided protective wrappings and tools for unloading and shipping, and escorted the trucks until they reached their destination. Over 6 days and 6 nights, the pipes were loaded into 223 vehicles. The team overcame the obstacles of local customs issues, inexperienced dock workers, and bad road conditions. Comtrans ensured that the first batch of pipes arrived safe and undamaged at the work site 70 kilometers from the port. This success allowed the pipe project to begin, and our efforts were greatly appreciated by all parties involved in the project. We perfected strategies for later logistics and transportation tasks involving ductile cast iron pipes for water projects in other countries.   

The CMEC Comtrans team has never faltered in the face of difficulties. Relying on extensive project logistics experience and a highly professional team, CMEC Comtrans overcame all obstacles and completed all logistics tasks.