FINLAND
Norilskiy Nickel - first of a new series of double- acting Arctic container ships
A new era in the evolution of the double-acting principle opens soon when Aker Finnyards completes what is hoped to be the first of a number of vessels to haul semi-finished metal products from Dudinka to Murmansk for the Russian metals company MMC Norilsky Nickel.
T the end of February, a 14,500dwt Arctic container ship, the first of an eventual series to employ the Aker/ABB double-acting principle, will leave Aker's Helsinki yard for official ice trials. These will take place somewhere in the Kara Sea, where suitable ice conditions can be found. Norilskiy Nickel was ordered by the Russian mining company, MMC Norilskiy Nickel, and delivery to the owner, including the change of flag, is expected to take place in April. The contract was placed in August 2004.
A
This evolutionary vessel is the first dry cargo vessel utilising the double-acting concept developed by the Masa-Yards
Arctic
Technology Centre (MARC), the predecessor of Aker Arctic Technology. She will follow Fortum's Aframax tankers Tempera and Mastera, as well as the prototype (retrofitted) tankers Uikku and Lunni also several service ships and icebreakers. Uikku and Lunni have been transporting gas condensate successfully from the Russian Arctic since the 1990s and are still working there (under the names of Varzuga and Indiga); nevertheless, the performance of Norilskiy Nickel will be followed with keen interest by oil and gas companies, and others already operating or planning to operate in the Arctic.
TECHNICAL PARTICULARS NORILSKIY NICKEL
Length, oa.................................. 164.31m Length, dwl.................................160.24m Breadth.........................................23.10m Depth, to main deck.....................14.35m Draught at dwl................................9.00m Deadweight, 9m draught.........14,500dwt Deadweight, 10m draught.......18,000dwt TEU containers (special design)........654 Gross............................. approx 16,000gt Icebreaking capacity, stern-first.......................... 1.5m level ice (with a snow layer of 200mm)
Main machinery................. Diesel-electric /azimuthing electric pod propulsion Main engines..............3 x Wärtsilä 12V32 Output..............3 x 6000kW at 750rev/min Alternators.............3 x ABB, 3 x 8314kVA Propulsion....................1 x 13MW Azipod
Classification.................Russian Maritime Register of Shipping
Ice Class JIU7 (most of hull); JIU 6 Bow (stern); JIU7 (Azipod)
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Norilskiy Nickelis the first new double-acting dry cargo ship for Arctic operation. She was floated from the covered Helsinki yard in mid-December. Arctic Express is the operating brand.
As can be seen in this illustration, the new ship has a bridge extension at the aft end of the superstructure, for use when travelling astern into ice.
These will include Russian maritime officials and particularly the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, with whom the ship is classed. Norilskiy Nickel will, during most of her year- round operations, sail independently from icebreaker assistance, transporting nickel semi- finished products and other export goods from Dudinka, on the river Yenisey, to Murmansk, with general cargoes on the return leg.
Unitising nickel transport When the order was placed, officials from MMC Norilskiy Nickel announced that the company was in the process of improving logistics to secure better on-time and cost- efficient transport of goods to its customers, for which reason it needed new ships of modern design and technology. Norilskiy Nickel then decided to unitise its nickel transportation and said it would build its own new fleet of four-to- six icebreaking highly ice-strengthened cargo ships. Norilskiy Nickel is the first in this series and the first vessel for nickel transportation actually owned by MMC Norilskiy Nickel. The company has since announced that five such vessels, in an investment amounting to €450 million, will be built in 2008.
Norilskiy Nickel Group is the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium, and one of the largest producers of platinum. With the new ship, pre-rolled nickel plates on standard flats/frames will be loaded onto pallets (sized for TEU dimensions), which are transferred into special containers in the town of Norilsk. From here, they will be transported by train to the port of Dudinka on the Yenisey river, for the onward journey by sea to Murmansk and beyond.
The company has built a new container terminal in Murmansk, and has also set up a separate organisation, the Norilskiy Nickel Murmansk Transport Branch, to handle these operations. Estimates show that transport costs with the new ships should be cut by half, thanks to shorter turnaround times. Currently, a normal round trip is approximately 17 days. Up till now, sea transport has been carried out by a fleet of SA- 15-class vessels, built in the 1980s in Finland by the then Valmet and Wärtsilä Marine yards. These ships, owned and operated mostly by Murmansk Shipping Co, have needed icebreaker assistance in wintertime, despite their ice strengthening (icebreaker operation in
THE NAVALARCHITECT FEBRUARY 2006
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