Rickmers-Linie’s 19,100dwt Baltic Winter has recently completed the transportation of three LPG storage tanks, each weighing 475 tons, from Kuantan in Malaysia to Shuaiba in Kuwait.
Fabricated by KNM Process System Sdn Bhd, part of the global KNM Group, the tanks were destined for the new Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC) LPG filling station at Umm Al-Aish, to the north of Kuwait City. The new plant will be built on an area of 150,000 square meters and provide 15 million cylinders of gas every year.
The overall project, which involves six tanks, is being handled by the Malaysian heavylift transport specialists SGV Logistik Sdn Bhd and Aman Logistics Sdn Bhd. It was SGV Logistik that awarded to Rickmers-Linie the contract to transport the first three units to Kuwait.
Each tank measures 60.1m x 9.0m x 9.75m and proved a challenge for Baltic Winter, one of Rickmers-Linie’s large fleet of heavylift multi-purpose dry cargo vessels. Despite being fitted with two 400-tonne cranes that can be twinned to lift 800 tons, calculating a safe stability configuration was not easy.
In normal circumstances this would not have been a big issue but the fact that no stability pontoon was available on this vessel, it turned out to be quite a difficult job. After hours of thorough preparation and planning, the Rickmers-Linie Cargo Transportation Engineering Team finally developed a suitable solution.
Background to the project
In September 2010, Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC) signed contract with South Korea’s Hanwha Engineering and Construction Company to establish a liquefied gas plant in the Umm Al-Aish area. KOTC said at the time that the project will provide for the needs of the northern region of the state and the new cities and projects like Bobyan Port and Al-Hareer City, adding that it will serve the local market until 2030. The project will use the latest technology in filling gas cylinders and will