I t’s not every day in transportation and logistics that you are involved in a star-studded movie premiere with both Hollywood royalty and actual members of the British monarchy in attendance. But that was the reality recently for the project logistics team at CEVA Logistics, which played a key role in the London premier of the new Top Gun movie. On the red carpet, along with leading man Tom Cruise, other cast members, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, sat a full-scale replica of the Typhoon fighter jet used in the film.
the world, every day, thanks to a similar mix of experienced personnel, intense coordination and planning, and savvy use of logistics technology. Project logistics—also known as bulk logistics—involves planning, organizing, managing, processing, and controlling the complete ow of goods, materials, and information associated with the successful completion of a speci c project. The freight involved is typically large, bulky, heavy, unusually shaped, and high-value, making project logistics one of the most demanding areas of supply chain, logistics, and transportation. Typically, bulk shippers operate in verticals such as oil and gas, energy, mining, construction, military, and other heavily industrial sectors that regularly transport products like reactors, generators, turbines, boilers, towers, oil rig parts, military equipment, and satellites. The booming renewable energy sector is currently one of the hottest areas of project logistics. A new ResearchandMarkets.com report estimates that 84% of the growth in project logistics since 2018 has come from solar and wind energy projects. “The positive future outlook for renewable energy is driving the current project logistics market,” notes the report, Project Logistics Market-Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022-2027) . “In order to generate the required amount of power in the future, the energy companies need to develop the necessary infrastructure, commence new projects, and install power generation equipment,” according to the report. “This scenario is going to create demand for project logistics.” “Components for power-generation projects comprise the majority of project logistics cargo coming inbound into the United States,” says Rob Silsbee, director of business development at Logistics Plus, an Erie, Pennsylvania-based 3PL specializing in bulk logistics. “That trend will continue for some time, as there’s a huge green energy push right now.
Getting the jet delivered and assembled for the premiere—and
Robinson’s team had just seven hours to unload and install the scale model for its client, BAE Systems, which produces the real-world aircraft. And, by 6:00 the next morning, the replica aircraft and all its associated equipment had to be dismantled and transported away. Having supported BAE Systems with other similar projects for some 20 years, the CEVA team had the right experience to handle this project logistics move seamlessly. “The key to the project was the accuracy of information supplied to the event organizers prior to the event so that a precise plan could be set out for all contractors to work safely together in a time-critical manner,” Robinson notes. While most project cargo moves are not quite as high-pro le as the Top Gun project, they happen successfully all over
removing it once the lights, camera, and action of the big night were nished— was a maverick move, according to Sharon Robinson, managing director for CEVA Logistics’ Showfreight division, which oversaw the project. The Typhoon was a full-scale replica, accurate in all details to a ying Typhoon, and was shipped from Farnborough in Hampshire (its full-time storage location) to Leicester Square in central London. “The replica was shipped dismantled as one oversized low/wide load with two support trailers carrying the undercarriage, wings, and tail, as well as our tools and equipment needed for the construction,” she explains.
The team at CEVA Logistics had only seven hours to deliver and build a full-scale replica Eurofighter Typhoon jet for Top Gun ’s London premiere in Leicester Square.
July 2022 • Inbound Logistics 153
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