The day after the war broke out in Ukraine, Blue Water was contacted by a client who needed their assistance unloading four aircraft over the weekend. The aircraft would land at the Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport (RZE) in Poland about one and a half hour drive from the Ukrainian border.
Safe cargo delivery
Blue Water's scope was to get the cargo safely to the border of Ukraine including the handling, counting, and reloading of the cargo and to make sure the delivery was complete.
The next step was to place all items on pallets before loading them onto trucks for border delivery. The first supply consisted of 240 pallets of first aid kits, hygiene kits, and medicine for the refugees inside Ukraine.
Reliable setup
BWS reloaded two aircraft of 60 pallets delivered to Neutral Zone at the Korczowa-Krakovets border
After the research for local partners at the airport of Rzeszow-Jasionka and for local trucks, Blue Water quickly succeeded in organising a reliable setup, and the first load from England arrived later the same day.
The night between Saturday and Sunday, they reloaded two aircraft/four loads of 60 pallets delivered to Neutral Zone at the Korczowa-Krakovets border. The consignee was the Ministry of Health in Ukraine which had arranged Ukrainian trucks under police escort at the other side of the border.
Challenging logistics did not stop the transport
It was a so-called First-Mover arrangement to the Neutral Zone in Ukraine. Confusion reigned among customs officers and border guards as the normal permits were suspended, and there were no pallet lifters or forklift trucks, so Blue Water had to strip and reload all goods manually as well as ensure that nothing was lost or stolen.
”The client’s own team was present at the RZE Airport as well as at the border, assisting with the physical reloading in the middle of the night," said Johnny Mortensen, Head of Aid & Development Logistics at Blue Water.
Joint efforts
It feels good to be part of a difference and contribute to helping the people in need in Ukraine"
"By joint efforts, everything went without a hitch, and the goods were delivered at the Ukrainian side of the border late Sunday. Monday, we received information that all equipment and medicine had already been distributed in Lviv.”
”Subsequently, another six charter aircraft were reloaded and delivered during the following week and weekend. The number of trucks at the border was so massive that we queued for hours and hours, and during the nights we took turns sleeping and working. However, it feels good being part of a setup that makes a difference and contributes to helping the many refugees and people in need in Ukraine,” concludes Johnny Mortensen.
Aid & development
Currently, Blue Water has delivered approx. 2000 cbm of equipment to Ukraine at the Korczowa-Krakovets border. As the clients want their goods delivered to Lviv and other regions without reloading at the border, Blue Water's Aid & Development Logistics team is busy helping the NGOs and their other partners.
As already known, there is a flood of relief goods coming in from all over Europe, and all airports in Poland, Rumania, and Moldova are running at full pressure.