Dubai Airport Expansion – 20 Tons of Overweight Cargo Delivered in 4 Days
We handled a rush shipment for the Dubai DWC Al Maktoum Airport expansion project. This is a $35 billion (128 billion AED) core project for Dubai’s future aviation hub. The civil construction is led by China Harbour, part of China Communications Construction – a true national-level project.
Our job: move 20 tons of oversized, heavy engineering materials to the site. Each piece was extra-large and extra-heavy – needed special reinforcement and special vehicles. The deadline was tight – the site was waiting to move forward. The client gave us only 4 days.
They had tried several forwarders. Some had no freighter space for large items. Some had never handled such out-of-gauge cargo. Others just said, “We can’t take this size.” They came to us because we have solid experience with urgent heavy shipments on the shipping from china to uae route. They trusted us – and that made our responsibility even bigger. We activated our emergency plan.
Day 1, 9:00 AM – We sent a dedicated truck to the Shenzhen factory for door-to-door pickup, non-stop. Meanwhile, our HQ team rushed to find air capacity. Our regular slots were full, and this cargo was too big for standard pallets. We contacted the airline immediately, applied for special loading permits, adjusted the loading plan, and secured a dedicated slot within 2 hours.
12:30 PM – Cargo arrived at our Shenzhen warehouse. Our ops team was already waiting. We followed the pre-set lashing plan – added shock pads, reinforced steel frames, wrapped waterproof film. The cargo was too tall for regular forklifts, so we brought in a lifting platform to load safely.
6:00 PM – Cargo sent to Shenzhen Airport. The airport had received our data in advance and opened a green lane – priority weighing and priority palletizing.
Day 2, 3:00 AM – The cargo took off on our coordinated direct freighter for china to uae shipping. It landed at Dubai DWC Airport at 2:00 PM that afternoon. Ground team took over immediately.
We had prepared all import/export documents – packing list, invoice, certificate of origin, and special declaration for oversized cargo – two days early. We also pre-cleared through our fast-track customs channel. Due to the high value and unusual size, customs still opened the container for inspection – but by 11:00 AM the next morning, all clearance was done and cargo was out of the bonded zone.
Then came a challenge – afternoon ground temperature near 50°C. Heavy cargo transport in such heat is risky – tires and steel frames can fail. We discussed with the client and decided to play it safe – delay departure to early morning of Day 4 to avoid peak heat. The client fully agreed.
Day 4, 6:00 AM – Special flatbed trailer arrived at the airport cargo terminal. Ops checked quantity and packaging on site, loaded directly. But because of the weight, we drove very slowly. At 9:00 AM, the cargo was safely unloaded at the designated site area.