Ship Sets Sail for Antarctica Wharf Works

A ship loaded with 4,500t of equipment by BAM Construct UK has been sent on a month-long journey to Antarctica, where it will be used for building a new wharf at Rothera Research Station.

The new wharf, being built over the next two Antarctic seasons, will provide safe berthing and efficient unloading for the new polar research vessel the RRS Sir David Attenborough. The Rothera Research Station is a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) base on the Antarctic Peninsula, located at Rothera Point, Adelaide Island.

The construction and civil engineering company headquartered in Camberley, United Kingdom said in a press release that BAM oversaw the loading of plant, 83 containers, permanent and temporary materials and 1,000 tonnes of steelwork onto the DS Wisconsin at Teesport in North Yorkshire.

The last of 83 containers is loaded onto the DS Wisconsin at Teesport before heading south to Antarctica.

BAM engineer and project manager Martha McGowan said: "Having spent months designing and procuring every single piece of equipment we need to build this wharf, it has finally all come together. We spent 10 days working with Transglobal, DS Multibulk and AV Dawson, and all of the cargo specialists said this was a one off for them in terms of the complexity of the cargo for stowage, how much was being shipped at once and the detailed bio-security checks. Now we are looking forward to being able to unload in Rothera and begin work deconstructing the old wharf, then building the new one."

BAS Progamme Manager David Seaton said: "This is a milestone in BAS’s Antarctic Infrastructure Modernisation Programme, and a major step forwards in our work to ensure the continued delivery of cutting edge UK polar science into the future."