Same Client. Same Project. Zero Surprises the Second Time.
About This Project
How AGF Shipping moved a 100-tonne cable reel from a UK manufacturer to an oil & gas supply base that standard freight routes can’t actually reach.
The Brief
How AGF Shipping completed the final phase of a multi-year Nigeria project — a 50-tonne storage tank from Dubai to Tin Can Port — in under 10 days, with the regulatory groundwork already understood from having moved phase one.
The Brief
A returning client needed the remaining item from an ongoing project shipped: a 50-tonne storage tank, from Dubai, UAE to Tin Can Port, Nigeria. AGF had already handled phase one of the same project back in February 2017.
That history mattered. We already knew the site, the client’s requirements, and what the job needed to go smoothly.
The Work
Familiarity didn’t mean skipping steps — it meant knowing exactly which ones mattered:
– A local projects team member visited the load site directly to check lifting points and access, given how busy the site was
– We handled the SONCAP inspection and certificate — mandatory compliance for goods entering Nigeria, and a step that trips up shipments that aren’t planned for it in advance
– Coordinated truck and crane placement for a collection that, due to UAE road size restrictions, had to happen overnight — requiring tight communication between AGF, our subcontractors, Jebel Ali Port, and the shipping line
– The cargo was collected on schedule and loaded directly onto the vessel the same night
The Outcome
Start to finish, the shipment took under 10 days — a straightforward result that depended on regulatory and logistical groundwork most shipments of this kind get wrong the first time.
Why This Matters to You
Project cargo isn’t always about solving a crisis — sometimes it’s about a forwarder who already knows your site, your compliance requirements, and your timeline, and doesn’t make you re-explain it on every shipment. That’s what repeat clients get from AGF.
A UK manufacturer needed a 100-metric-tonne reel of steel wire delivered to Port Fourchon, Louisiana — the primary supply base for offshore oil & gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
The reel itself was straightforward out-of-gauge cargo. Getting it to its actual destination wasn’t.
The Problem
Port Fourchon isn’t a serviced port — it’s a supply base with no direct ocean freight service of its own. The nearest real seaport is New Orleans, roughly 60 miles away by road.
That road isn’t built for cargo like this. The route from New Orleans to Port Fourchon runs almost entirely through Louisiana bayou, on roads raised on stilts to stay above water level — which caps what can be transported over them by weight. A 100-tonne reel wasn’t going to make that journey by truck.
The Plan
We built the route around the constraint rather than trying to force cargo through it:
– Collected the reel from the manufacturer’s site in the North East of England by specialist haulage
– Moved it via our own feeder service (Aberdeen–Hull–London–Antwerp) to Antwerp, handling all UK/Belgian customs formalities and AMS entry along the way
– Our Antwerp team supervised the transfer onto the mother vessel for the Atlantic crossing to New Orleans
– Rather than attempt the restricted bayou road route, we arranged a barge to meet the mother vessel directly in New Orleans, discharging the reel straight from ship to barge
– The barge delivered the reel directly to the consignee’s berth at the Port Fourchon supply base — bypassing the road bottleneck entirely
The Outcome
The reel arrived at Port Fourchon the same day it was discharged in New Orleans, without ever touching the restricted road network — a route built specifically around a destination that doesn’t have a conventional one.
Why This Matters to You
Some destinations don’t come with a standard freight route — supply bases, remote sites, and locations with genuine physical access constraints need a plan built around the destination, not a generic booking forced to fit it. This is the kind of routing problem AGF solves as a matter of course, not an exception.