Helping to bring closure
During December, as FOCUS was closing up for the year, we received notification of some of the sterling work the Van der Vlist transport group is doing in assisting with the recovery of the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight 17 (MH17) that was shot down on July 17, 2014.
The Dutch abnormal-loads haulier was asked to use its expertise to bring back the wreckage, from Ukraine to The Netherlands, for analysis and reconstruction. On Tuesday, December 9, 2014, two convoys of four trucks arrived at Gilze-Rijen airport in The Netherlands, where the recovered wreckage was unloaded and processed.
The company outlines its strategy for such a sensitive transport operation: “Before sending our drivers and project coordinators to Kharkiv (450 km north of the original crash site) we consulted our insurance company, the authorities involved, our principal, the Dutch Ministry of Defence and a group of our transport specialists in order to check the local security situation in and around Kharkiv. These specialists also advised on how to safely load, secure and transport the cargo.
“As soon as the conclusions were drawn, four convoys of trucks were sent out to Kharkiv. Loading and securing of the cargo was executed in close cooperation with all stakeholders involved and with the great support of all of them.”
MH17 was shot down on July 17, 2014, while flying across an area of conflict near the Ukraine-Russia border, en route from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. All 238 passengers and 15 crew were killed. The incident is still undergoing investigation and a final accident report is expected in August.
“For everyone involved, this was an emotionally charged transport operation, and we feel honoured to be able to contribute to the recovery of the MH17,” states Van der Vlist.