ACS's Cargo Charters of 2023

Our award-winning cargo charter division has had another busy year in 2023 after history-making pandemic-related demand contributed to record profits for ACS in 2022.

This year, we’ve increased our global reach, opening new offices in Mexico City, Washington D.C. and Boston and investing in larger premises in Manhattan, Houston, Singapore and Shanghai. We’ve also been named ACW Charter Broker of the Year for the 11th year in a row.

From rhinos to alpacas and machinery parts to humanitarian supplies, we’ve helped our customers move all sorts of cargo all over the world in 2023. To mark another busy year and demonstrate what we can achieve for our customers, we’ve collated a selection of our top cargo charters for the year. We look forward to arranging thousands more in 2024!

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Delivering urgent relief aid

For over 30 years, we’ve assisted governments and NGOs with time-sensitive charters in the aftermath of natural disasters, political unrest, hostile situations and corporate emergencies. Several natural disasters put our rapid cargo charter solutions to the test in 2023, as we helped deliver urgently-needed humanitarian aid to crisis zones around the world.

One example was the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in February. Our teams worked around the clock to arrange over 40 charter flights carrying vital supplies like food and drink, shelters, tents and blankets to the region. The aid came from all over the world, including Asia, the U.S., the Middle East, Northern Europe and even the Canary Islands, so having a global network of offices was crucial for the quick coordination of the charters.

We also arranged several charters transporting over 500 tonnes of relief goods to Guam after Typhoon Mawar hit the country and the surrounding region in May. That same month, we helped to move 20 tonnes of relief supplies from Malaysia to Myanmar following a deadly tropical cyclone in the North Indian Ocean. And in September, our cargo and emergency response teams organised flights sending over 500 tons of aid to Libya in the wake of Storm Daniel – just a week after an earthquake hit Morocco, which also required multiple ACS-arranged cargo charter flights to help those in need.

Transporting animals

From dolphins to lions, we’ve helped move all kinds of animals to new homes. In 2023, we were called into action by conservation NGO African Parks, who needed help relocating 16 southern white rhino from a private South African game reserve to Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Our team jumped at the chance to be part of this ground-breaking effort to restore the ecological balance of one of Africa's oldest national parks. We sourced a Hercules L-100 to move the heavy rhinos, which could land on the short dirt airstrip and had the rear-loading capabilities to offload the animals. As each rhino weighed at least two tonnes, two flights were needed to transport them all. With careful planning, we were able to perform both flights in the same week, with each departing at night and arriving in DRC at first light.

We also helped a freight forwarder transport live alpaca from Chile to China. Only a few carriers could accommodate such complex cargo, but we sourced a Boeing 747 within the client’s budget. Once again, our global presence proved pivotal, with our offices in Shanghai and South America working together with the client and aircraft operator to ensure the charter was arranged seamlessly despite the time difference.

Delivering cargo to West Africa

We spoke to our cargo team in Johannesburg to discover the trends and changes impacting the cargo charter market and oil, gas and mining industries in Africa in 2023, such as the conflict in Niger and the cancellation of scheduled services to the continent. In May, the latter proved a hurdle for a client transporting an MRI magnet from a Chinese factory to Guinea.

The sensitive cargo was refrigerated in liquid helium, which evaporates during transit, giving us just seven days to deliver it. A Boeing 747 was the only aircraft that could transport a shipment of this size, but many airlines had stopped bringing cargo into West Africa. Rising to the challenge, we leveraged our local contacts to quickly source a 747 that could transfer through Belgium and successfully transport the magnet to its final destination.

Transporting heavy and outsize cargo around the world

Every year, we’re asked to arrange cargo charters moving heavy items that are too large or heavy to be transported in the belly of a scheduled airliner. One such request came in 2023, when a freight forwarder needed help flying a 4.5-tonne aircraft engine from Canada to a plant in Brazil within a tight deadline. We swiftly sourced a Boeing 747-400 that could transport the heavy engine, but the closest airport to the plant had never accommodated the aircraft before and didn’t have the necessary equipment to unload the cargo. Thinking fast, we transported a main deck loader from another airport for the charter.

The oil, gas and mining industries often need to move heavy equipment quickly in order to keep production moving and meet tight deadlines. This year our award-winning cargo team made light work of transporting over 40 tonnes of oil and gas equipment from Norway to Australia, including a 25-tonne top drive device that was urgently needed for an oil rig, using our unrivalled expertise to plan a specialist solution for the outsize load.

Our cargo team in South Africa was also called into action in 2023 when a manufacturing company needed help returning a 21-tonne part to their press mill in South Africa after undergoing repairs in Germany. Production was at a standstill while the part was being fixed and the scheduled service flying it back had been cancelled, giving us just two days before the planned departure date to find an alternative solution.

Drawing on our industry contacts, we sourced a Boeing 747F from a Belgian operator with the necessary Foreign Operator Permits to fly the cargo to Johannesburg. We then worked with our ACS Time Critical team in Frankfurt to arrange a heavy-duty truck to drive the cargo from Germany to Belgium, where it was successfully loaded through the aircraft’s nose.

To learn more about our services or book your next cargo charter, contact your local charter experts today.