Thursday, September 02, 2010
More articles in
News and Articles 6 plus 1 due to sail in September 2010: statistics and chronology
There isn’t public known statistics on Northern Passage non-Russian vessels voyages, my statistics are as follows:
First ever vessel to sail Russian secret passage, closed for foreigners, was auxuliary cruiser of nazy German Navy Komet (built 1937, dwt 7500) in summer of 1940, cruiser tranzited to Pacific in a very short time and became one of fuerer’s pirates on high seas, sinking quite a number of commercial vessels in Pacific ocean.
Nordic Barents can’t be the second either, or the third, or even the fourth. Last year three German vessels, Antigua-flagged Beluga’s freighters, entered Northern Passage, though only two tranzited Passage in full, Beluga Fraternity and Beluga Foresight. After they tranzited Passage from East to West, delivering on the way some project cargo to port Noviy Obskaya Bay, another vessel, Beluga Family, delivered also project cargo from Amsterdam to Noviy, making on the way a call to Murmansk. Russian tanker SCF Baltica isn’t Russian-flagged, flag is Liberian.
There was another non-Russian vessel to sail Northern Route, though it wasn’t full tranzit. Article from Wikipedia, link sent by Kari Rantamäki:
Uikku, built in 1977 by Werft Nobiskrug GmbH in Rendsburg, Germany, was the last ship of a series of four arctic product tankers ordered by a Finnish oil and petroleum products company Neste Oyj in the 1970s. The ships were given names after Finnish seabirds and the silhouettes of their namesake birds were painted on the side of the ships' superstructure. Lunni (Atlantic Puffin) and Sotka (Aythya) were delivered in 1976 and Tiira (Tern) and Uikku (Grebe) in the following year. Until the 1990s the ships were used mainly to transport oil products in the Baltic Sea.
In 1993 Uikku was chartered to a newly-founded Arctic Shipping Services to ship petroleum products in the Arctic Ocean. The new shipping company, based in Murmansk, was a joint operation between two Russian companies, Murmansk Shipping Company and Primorsk Shipping Company, and a Finnish company Nemarc Shipping Oy, which in turn was a joint venture shipping company owned by Neste and Kværner Masa-Yards. The ship's propulsion machinery was modernized for navigation in the harsh ice conditions of the Arctic Ocean in 1993 and her ice-strengthening was increased in 1998. In the following years Uikku operated in the Baltic Sea in winter and in the Northern Sea Route during summer months.
In 1997 Uikku became the first merchant ship under non-soviet flag to navigate the entire Northern Sea Route. In the following year she took part in Arctic Demonstration and Exploratory Voyage (ARCDEV), a research project funded by the European Union to determine the feasibility of year-around navigation in the Northern Sea Route. Uikku, accompanied by a Russian nuclear powered icebreaker NS Rossiya to open the way and a research icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsyn to provide facilities to 70 researchers from different countries, carried a cargo of gas condensate from Ob river estuary to Europe.
Name: 1977—2003: Uikku
2003—: Varzuga (Âàðçóãà)
Builder: Werft Nobiskrug GmbH, Rendsburg, Germany[2][3]
16,038 DWT
Displacement: 22,654 tons
Length: LOA 164.40 m (539.37 ft)
Beam: 22.22 m (72.90 ft)
Draught: 9.55 m (31.33 ft)
Ice class: 1A Super[2], ULA1[4]
Installed power: 2 × Wärtsilä Vasa 12V32E, 2 × 4920 kW
1 × Wärtsilä Vasa 12V22D-HF, 1 × 1950 kW
Propulsion: Diesel electric propulsion
11.4 MW Azipod unit
Speed: 17 knots
Chronology:
Komet – German Navy cruiser, dwt 7500, built 1937, flag Germany, in 1940 tranzited Northern Passage west-east.
Uikku – tanker, dwt 16038, built 1977, flag Finland, in 1997 sailed Northern Passage from west to Ob estuary and returned to Europe, not full tranzit.
Beluga Family – general cargo freighter, dwt 12744, built 2007, flag Antigua, owner German Beluga, in 2009 sailed Amsterdam - Murmansk - Noviy port (Yamburg) and back, not full tranzit.
Beluga Fraternity – general cargo freighter, dwt 13257, built 2008, flag Antigua, owner German Beluga, in 2009 tranzited Northern Passage east-west, starting from Vladivostok.
Beluga Foresight – general cargo freighter, dwt 12669, built 2008, flag Antigua, owner German Beluga, in 2009 tranzited Northern Passage east-west, starting from Vladivostok.
SCF Baltica – tanker, dwt 117050, built 2005, flag Liberia, owner Sovcomflot Russia, in 2010 tranzited Northern Passage west-east.
Due to tranzit Northern Passage west-east from Norway to China in September 2010 with iron ore cargo:
Nordic Barents – bulk carrier, dwt 43372, built 1995, flag Honk Kong, owner Nordic Bulk Carriers Denmark.
Voytenko Mikhail
Pic Uikku on Northern Passage voyage, year 1997
