DHL Global Forwarding, the air and ocean freight specialist within Deutsche Post DHL, has signed a contract with aircraft manufacturer Airbus to provide transportation of A319, A320 and A321 aircraft components and general cargo from the Airbus production site in Hamburg, Germany, to Airbus' final assembly line in Mobile, Alabama. DHL will provide a multimodal transport solution with air, ocean and road freight services beginning in 2015.

The ocean and air freight transportation of sensitive aircraft parts demands special considerations such as safety clearance on ocean freighters, flatness of the ground and limited acceleration forces. We're delighted that Airbus decided to entrust us with this task. This contract win further highlights our experience in heavyweight cargo transportations and multimodal transport solutions within complex supply chains, says Volker Oesau, CEO Middle Europe, DHL Global Forwarding.

Due to the sensitivity of the aircraft components, the transportation process is challenging. The parts will be fixed on specifically designed transport racks., abrupt movements need to be avoided and a flat surface should be considered at all times as well.

The agreement between Airbus and DHL comprises general cargo, which will be shipped via air and ocean, and major aircraft components including rear fuselage, forward fuselage, wings, and the vertical as well as horizontal tail plane. The major components will be shipped via coaster from the Airbus site in Hamburg to Bremerhaven, where they will be loaded onto container liner shipping service. After their arrival in Mobile, trucks will take care of delivery to the final assembly line at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley.