Hansa Heavy Lift’s HHL VALPARAISO is claimed to be the first vessel to sail open hatch through the Northern Sea Route
Hansa Heavy Lift has successfully completed the first ever shipment of STS container cranes via the Northern Sea Route (NSR), relocating them from Saint Petersburg to Vostochny, in the Russian Far East. HHL VALPARAISO is also clamed to be the first vessel to sail open hatch through the NSR, which has a limited window of around two months open to cargo voyages.
The two panamax Konecranes cranes were shipped on behalf of Russia's Global Ports from its Petrolesport container/ro-ro terminal to its facility in Vostochniy. Transported fully-erect with the 38m long booms braced in the horizontal position, the cranes measured 61m tall. Each weighing 820 tonnes, they were shipped partially above and below deck.
“The Northern Sea Route was the only viable option to complete this voyage in the required timeframe,” said Gleb Faldin, Commercial Manager, HHL. “In the Arctic there is no room for mistakes. During the passage, the vessel has limited connection and only a few points of shelter.
Faldin added that a two-month delay in the cargo being ready meant that HHL VALPARAISO had to be repositioned for the voyage, which was originally planned for HHL TOKYO.
HHL VALPARAISO travelled from Qingdao, China to St Petersburg via the NSR to load the cranes, and then went back through the NSR a second time to complete the mission, which was accomplished in record time.
Crews had only a few weeks to complete the voyage, as the cargo was loaded in October and had to be delivered to its destination by late November before the route froze over.HHL VALPARAISO holds Ice Class E3 equivalent to Russian Arc.4 (Finnish-Swedish Ice Class 1A).
The cranes were not designed to be lifted, requiring careful planning from all parties involved in the move, as well as strong engineering expertise.
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