It’s not a secret that BBC Chartering meanwhile operates one third of its fleet in a segment capable of lifting 500mt and beyond.
This not only covers broad logistic challenges for charterers on inter-continental trades, but also provides distinctive heavy lift services on intra European trades. “There are interesting options for charterers if you look at the cargo intake and heavy lift capabilities of our vessels,“ says Matteo Fortuna, Managing Director of BBC Chartering in Genoa, Italy. “Often, some clients don’t have heavy lift vessels on the radar and miss out on such transport solutions which may prove very competitive even on regional trades.” Fortuna says, “Our capabilities add a lot of value to the Intra Europe heavy lift market. I am sure we can prepare for more opportunities like the recent BBC Mont Blanc shipment we did in September.” The transport he refers to has been a one of kind so far, as it concerns the single heaviest piece of cargo which has been ever handled by BBC Chartering: a 641mt reactor!
The piece was 40m long, about 8m wide and needed to be shipped together with a second lighter reactor of “only 568mt” to Ilychevsk port in the Black Sea, Ukraine. With her 700mt lifting capacity, the BBC Mont Blanc was just the right vessel to take on the heavy weights; loading them directly from the Fagioli owned barge ‘Ticino’ onto the
Vessel type Deadweight Lifiting capacity BBC Congo 17,000 dwt 500 mt BBC Europe 7,500 dwt 500 mt BBC Everest 9,282 dwt 700 mt BBC Amber 14,800 dwt 800 mt BBC Winter 19,320 dwt 800 mt
Current heavy lift series 500 - 800 mt lifiting capacitiy
vessel’s deck. Here the reactors were safely fastened, each resting on multiple heavy duty flat-racks to spread the heavy load on the weather deck. “Each reactor was loaded through basket lift and we needed to employ both cranes and a stability pontoon,“ said Fortuna. The discharge was executed in the same way, and after safe unloading, the reactors made their way to their final destination, the Rosneft refiniery in Novokuibyshevsk.
More examples for Intra Europe heavy lifts
In January 2013, BBC Chartering safely transported a 470mt heavy Liebherr crane from Valencia to Tarragona on board the BBC Kibo; another member of the Everest family, which is like the BBC Mont Blanc, a 700mt lifter. Again, the BBC Mont Blanc was hired this August to ship a giant tunnel boring machine from Bilbao and Fos to Porto Empedocle, Sicily where the equipment is needed to build highway infrastructure. Other good examples for Intra-Europe heavy lift services were the shipments of heavy generators from Rotterdam to St. Petersburg on the HR Recognition (2x 250mt cranes) and the BBC Rushmoore (2x 350mt).
The generators weighed 341mt and 320mt and were shipped with accessory equipment to their final destination in Russia; one going to the power plant Yuzhnouralskaya GRES, and the other to the power station Mosenergo TEZ.
Comparing apples with apples
Heavy lift capabilities add value for many more projects when charters compare and realize the economics behind a reliable solution over a putative “cheap” solution. “There are sad but true cargo stories out there and charters eventually learn where they encountered losses. In the end, they will not remember how cheap a job was done, but how well it was done,” says Jens Meilvang, Chief Chartering Officer from Leer. “We are happy to talk more about this with our clients so they will really be able to compare apples with apples, but please before (!) they actually sign a contract.”