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Below is an extract for the following press release: http://www.hmh.org/article.asp?id=84 /.......Perot, chairman of the board of Perot Systems and chairman of Hillwood, offered direct support, including providing services at Fort Worth Alliance Airport. The airport is the centerpiece of Hillwood’s 17,000-acre AllianceTexas development. EP-Team, Inc., a partner of Hillwood, provided project management, which included site expertise in Europe and the United States, rail car preparation, ground solutions and transport, and arrangements for air shipment. EP-Team called on the assistance of its staff in Singapore, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Moscow, Hartford, Washington D.C., and Dallas-Forth Worth to organize and coordinate the transport. BP America, working in cooperation with BP in Germany, donated 47 tons of jet fuel for the Antonov flight. The Houston construction company Linbeck heard of the project through Leebron, and Team Manager Jeff Bryson, a railroad aficionado, offered site construction and historical preservation assistance. Rio Grande Pacific Corp. of Fort Worth donated the rail, railroad ties, and bedding for the permanent site. Charles M. Schayer & Co. volunteered to assist with customs documentation and import issues, Pierpont Communications offered public relations support, and H-E-B and Grocers Supply quickly agreed to help with storage of the artifact while the permanent exhibit site is prepared. Other companies, such as TNT Crane and Rigging, Inc., and Emmert International, volunteered to assist with transport of the car from Fort Worth to Houston and with its unloading. The Lester and Sue Smith Foundation and WoodRock & Co. offered underwriting support. When asked about the complicated transport solution required for such a large artifact, Berkowitz said, “The evolution of the ‘solution’ started in the planning stages in May 2005, and through the efforts and assistance of EP-Team, we were able to provide a competent and workable solution to moving the rail car by air. Because of the historic value of the car, we believed air movement was the most effective and logical way to proceed. EP-Team was able to provide for the donation of many of the transport costs by air, and we chose to use Fort Worth Alliance Airport (AFW) upon arrival in the United States because the nature of AFW made for greater ease of handling versus other airports.” Polet Airlines, a heavy cargo specialist based in Russia, owns the Antonov AN-124-100F that was chartered by EP-Team, and Alexey Ozerov, vice president for the Americas for Polet, said the logistics of the undertaking presented a “unique challenge.” “Over the course of several months, our teams in Russia, Europe and the United States worked closely with EP-Team’s European headquarters in Amsterdam to design and fabricate a new, untried ramp loading system specifically for this project,” he said. David Pulk, president and CEO of EP-Team, said the Alliance facility was “an ideal location” for arrival and was chosen because of its dedicated cargo service, efficiency in offloading cargo and its proximity to Interstate 35 West...../ |
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