Basra infrastructure

Emergency infrastructure for Basra

In October 2003, Charles Kendall Freight's Dubai office, in partnership with Charles Kendall Procurement, was appointed as freight forwarder and logistics provider for this water and electricity development project in Iraq.

With a senior manager on site in Basra, Charles Kendall carried out UK-funded procurement for the project, whilst additional staff were seconded to the region as required.

Air freight capability was limited early on, so Charles Kendall made an agreement with a steam ship feeder line, expanding an ocean freight service from Port Rashid, Dubai, to Umm Qasr Port in Iraq. This allowed them to move construction materials and plant into the area safely, and relatively quickly.

Goods were procured from seven countries for the project and involved arranging exports from Europe, the US, India and the Middle East, with transhipment through either Dubai or Kuwait. Under military escort, they delivered hundreds of trailer loads of specialist equipment to various sites within the Basra area. And although new GCC duty regulations meant customs bonding was extremely difficult in Kuwait, Charles Kendall achieved it for every consignment.

Most of the cargo was out-of-gauge, over-height and break bulk equipment: no mean feat to move over tough terrain – particularly in Iraq. But they succeeded, and were then commissioned directly by the British Army in Southern Iraq for transport and logistics services.