Navigating the High Seas – a handful of shipments to Salina Cruz
For client ICA Fluor Daniel, BigLift Shipping has successfully executed five shipments to the Pemex refinery in Salina Cruz in Mexico with a variety of heavy and complex cargoes from across the globe. For the same project a sixth voyage is currently ongoing. This ambitious project was facilitated through Fluor’s China office and BigLift’s Dubai branch and met with a range of challenges. For BigLift, Salina Cruz was a rather unknown port. It is situated on the West Coast of Mexico and has a very narrow entry, but that proved to be less of an obstacle than the restrictions at the Panama Canal in that period.
Pottersgracht: from Mumbai to Salina Cruz
The first leg of this journey involved the shipment of four coke drums of 680 mt each, to be loaded in Mumbai, India. M.v. Pottersgracht faced challenging conditions, loading from barges in significant swell conditions at Mumbai anchorage. Nevertheless, loading operations were succesful and Pottersgracht safely set off in Easterly direction to cross the Pacific to deliver its cargo.
Happy Sky: Antwerp and Turkey to Salina Cruz
The next leg of this project was taken on by Happy Sky which transported air-preheaters from Antwerp, Belgium, and a 700 mt fractionator from Borusan, Turkey. The vessel then sailed through the South Atlantic, rounded the Magellan Strait, and sailed up the west coast of South America to avoid the restrictions of the Panama Canal that were current at that time.
Prinsengracht: Sattahip to Salina Cruz
A further voyage was undertaken by Prinsengracht which loaded approximately 13,000 cubic meters of radiant modules and ducting in Sattahip, Thailand. This shipment also involved a journey across the Pacific ocean.
Parkgracht: second shipment from Sattahip
After Prinsengracht, Parkgracht also arrived in Sattahip to load the second shipment of radiant modules and ducting, and then followed her sister across the Pacific Ocean.
Happy Delta: Antwerp to Salina Cruz
The fifth voyage in this sequence was performed by Happy Delta which started a circuitous route to Salina Cruz in Antwerp, Belgium, where she took on board an E-crane. She then continued to Italy, where power related cargoes were loaded in the ports of Marina di Carrara, Livorno and Vibo Valentia. The Mediterranean voyage was rounded off in Borusan in Turkey where she has loaded three columns to a maximum of 375 mt. Since the Panama Canal situation was back to normal at the time of shipment, this vessel was able to sail the shortest route to Salina Cruz.
Conclusion
All in all, the complexity of the cargoes, to be collected in Europe and Asia, made for a challenging project, which was once more brought to a satisfactory close by the teams in the offices in Dubai and Amsterdam in excellent cooperation with Fluor’s China office, and of course, the first-rate crews on the various vessels.
