Flying 160 tonnes of relief aid to Maui

Our Mission: After wildfires destroyed schools on the Hawaiian island of Maui in August 2023, our help was needed to fly over materials for field classrooms. There were two 80-tonne consignments; one located in the United States and the other in China. The client usually moved such heavy cargo by sea, but it was urgently needed to enable local children to go back to school. We set about finding a faster solution.

Our Solution

Route: Toledo > Kahului / Guangzhou > Kahului

Aircraft:  Boeing B767

Our team reached out to operators and received several quotes for flying the materials to Honolulu, followed by sea freight the rest of the way.

Knowing this option was too slow, we leveraged our industry contacts and utilised the resources of two operators to source a Boeing 767 that could fly directly to Maui from Toledo and Guangzhou.

We liaised with handlers in the two departure cities to arrange forklifts and high loaders to load the heavy cargo. However, when one of the charters arrived in Maui, we noticed that one of the crates had shifted during the flight making it impossible to move it on the aircraft’s rollers. We remained in close contact with the impressive handling team at Kahului Airport to get the cargo off the aircraft undamaged, leaving the client incredibly happy.

The Finer Details

ACS Time Critical: Working with our trucking division, we arranged road transportation to get the cargo to and from the airports.

Attention to Detail: Securing permits and visas in China can be a lengthy process, so we worked closely with the operator to ensure the required paperwork was completed promptly.