Blue Water Shipping has been awarded its biggest individual transport contract so far - the transport of a gas production platform, TPG 500, from Singapore to Baku.
The company is undertaking the operation in cooperation with engineering company Master Marine.
The client is French contractor Technip, with the final consignee being BP, Baku, Azerbaijan.
"The platform was built in large modules at Keppel Fels Ship Yard in Singapore from where Blue Water arranged the transport via the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and further on via the Russian Don-Volga river system to the Caspian Sea," explained spokesman Claus Laursen.
"The biggest four modules self-floating, weighing up to 4,200 tonnes are 88 metres long, 16.65 metres wide and 13.8 metres high," he added.
The modules have a draught of 3.15 metres and are built to the maximum size that can pass through the locks of the Russian rivers.
"As the smallest lock is 17 metres wide and has a maximum draught of 3.20 metres there will not be much space to spare," Laursen pointed out.
The logistical challenge involving the four modules weighs a total of approximately 15,000 tonnes.
Another challenge is that the river system freezes in late November, and will not open up again until April 2005 when the ice melts, he added. At that time Blue Water has another big shipment to complete the project. The biggest modules have been fitted with satellite equipment which makes it possible to follow the position via internet.
Blue Water is an all-round shipping and freight forwarding company established in Denmark in 1972. It employs 550 people in its own offices in Denmark, Greenland, England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, France, Spain, the US, Brazil, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the UAE, Singapore and China.
The company deal with all aspects of transport and forwarding including deep sea shipping, shipbroking, chartering (dry cargo and reefer vessels), liner agencies, airfreight (IATA agents), courier service, offshore transport and base facilities, road transport, express service, intermodal traffic, warehousing, stevedoring, etc.
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