Beluga Shipping News

Compared to new technologies, conventional engineering in shipping is a relatively simple science: computable and generally predictable. However, heavy lift shipping presents challenges that go far beyond what is required with standard unitized cargoes. The transportation of project cargoes - often highly valuable components of multi-billion-dollar projects - requires expert planning to ensure they are loaded and transported safely and efficiently. Last year AAL shipped two giant cyclone vessels (22m x 11m x 10m and weighing over 500mt each) to Petronas’ $27 billion RAPID project in Malaysia.

Federal Maritime Commissioner William P. Doyle addressed attendees of the Center For Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Arctic Maritime Awareness seminar on September 27, 2013. The seminar, held at the Finnish Embassy in Washington, DC, was attended by representatives with Arctic interests and featured the Finnish Ambassador to the United States, the Finnish Minister of Transport, the General Director of the Finnish Transport Agency, the head of the Economic Section for the Russian Embassy and the U.S. Coast Guard’s Deputy Commandant for Operations.

MTN Satellite Communications (MTN) announced that it has been selected by German project- and heavy-lift carrier Beluga Shipping to install a broadband VSAT system on the new MV Beluga Shanghai. Beluga Shanghai is one of Beluga’s new P-class series of super heavy-lift vessels, which offers crane capacities between 800 and 1,400 tons and loading capacities of up to 20,000 deadweight tons. The shipboard VSAT’s will use MTN’s Ku-band network, which provides coverage over most of the major sea lanes around the world. The ship will also be equipped with Inmarsat Fleet Broadband 500 satellite terminals, which will be used as a secondary satellite connection with automatic switchover when out of Ku-band coverage area.

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) and H2OSatellite provided critical satellite communications for Beluga Shipping’s successful pioneering transit of the challenging Northeast Passage this summer. The Beluga ships relied on Iridium OpenPort high-bandwidth marine satellite systems supplied by H2OSatellite for voice and data links throughout their voyage through the extreme Northern waterways, most of which are not reliably covered by any other long-range communication service. The exact position the two Beluga Shipping heavy lift project carriers stated in an e-mail to the Russian administration was 70° 16.7’ North – 057° 33.4’ East as they completed the historic voyage.

The latest surveillance, defence and security equipment is presented by the 60 exhibitors at MS&D 2009, the international conference and exhibition on Maritime Security & Defence (MS&D), to be held at the Hamburg Fair site from 30 September to 2 October 2009. The exhibits include sophisticated optical and acoustic sensors, which have substantially improved the automated monitoring and control technology of security and defence equipment and systems. Thus the exhibiting companies, most of them from the exclusive circle of defence system manufacturers, are contributing to the protection of international shipping. A trend at MS&D 2009 is unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) which fly in fully automated mode and can be used for surveillance. The exhibits by Diehl BGT Defence GmbH & Co.

A newly built cargo vessel was towed by wind propulsion of the Hamburg-based company SkySails on the North Sea near Bremerhaven, Germany for the first time. The 160m2 SkySails supported the main engine of the 132m long Multi Purpose Heavy Lift Carrier MS Beluga SkySails of the Bremen-based Beluga Shipping with approx. five tons tractive force at low wind. The cargo ship will set off from Bremen to Venezuela and gain first experiences with the new system during the maiden voyage.