An ICAT Logistics Case Study Solution for the SOFIA Project

One Call

A well-known aerospace government agency was facing a time-critical issue on an urgent shipment, and after several calls and emails to other freight forwarders, no one was able to offer them a solution for what they needed. With the current state of the logistics and transportation industry—the capacity and congestion issues, and astronomical freight rates—the client was losing precious time. That’s when one of their contacts told them to reach out to the international experts at ICAT Logistics.

Right Solution

With the shipment already behind schedule, the ICAT team had to get to work immediately. The client needed four Boeing 747SP engines with stands moved from Palmdale, California to Muscat, Oman, for the SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) project. Each engine was 248” L × 99” W × 111” H and weighed 12,800 pounds. Due to the size of this shipment, ICAT had to move it via ocean flat rack.

The ICAT team quickly secured the next available sailing to Oman and set up PierPass for the customer to be tendered in Los Angeles. This took care of payment for the Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF) for the container moving during peak hours so the shipment wasn’t delayed any further.