EVA Air Cargo worked hand-in-hand with chip manufacturer, Taiwan Semi-Conductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to move an 8-in. wafer fabrication plant from Taipei to the Sung Chiang factory near Shanghai.  With special handling, extraordinary care and precise logistics, the carrier transported 500 metric tons of high-tech manufacturing equipment with a volume weight of approximately 570 metric tons, marking the first time an entire wafer plant has been moved across the Taiwan Strait by air.

The move took 10 successive trips starting with the first departure from Taipei's Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport on June 1, 2004 and ending with the last load flown into Shanghai's Pudong Airport on June 20.

“EVA Air Cargo has broken the record for moving one single, huge assembly-line shipment,” said Solomon Lin, deputy senior vice president, Cargo Management Department, EVA Air.  “Not only was this equipment fragile, but it was also heavy and oversized in every dimension.  It was shaped differently than the typical airfreight container, couldn't be stacked, and had to be loaded in a specific order.  Our successful performance for TSMC required careful planning, special handling and the ability to load the aircraft's hold as though it were a jigsaw puzzle.”     Transporting the precision wafer fabrication equipment required extraordinary teamwork and exceptional planning for every flight.  The government ban on direct cross-strait flights further complicated the job though EVA's effective cargo-sharing relationship with Shanghai Airlines eased the process and condensed total transit time for every shipment to six hours.  EVA lifted the plant's systems from Taipei to Macau aboard one of its Boeing B747-400 freighters, parked beside a Shanghai B747-200 freighter, and immediately transferred the shipment intact for the trip onward to Mainland China.     “By ensuring that the Shanghai freighter was ready for loading as soon as we arrived in Macau, we saved transfer and ground time, eliminated unnecessary ground handling and paperwork, and completely avoided related risks.  We were able to meet our customer's requirements and safely deliver every shipment within only six hours,” Lin said.    Before loading a single piece of equipment, EVA Cargo worked with TSMC to complete detailed packing lists that included dimensions, weight with and without pallets, and item names.