Today “Venta Maersk” has called the port of St. Petersburg after transiting the Northern Sea Route from the Russian Far East.
The vessel left Vladivostok on September 22 and Vostochnaya Stevedoring Co on September 26 after loading in Busan embarked on the trial voyage and passed Bering Strait on September 6.
Before coming to St. Petersburg, “Venta Maersk” called at Bremerhaven on September 23. The voyage lasted 37 days all in all.
According to Maersk, the voyage went according to plan without specific incidents. The crew underwent special training and was joined by Northern Sea Route certified ice pilots during the entire transit.
During September 8-11 the vessel was escorted by Rosatomflot’s nuclear icebreaker “50 Let Pobedy” from the ice edge in the East Siberian Sea to the ice edge in the Laptev Sea.
Maersk underlines that this was a one-off trial designed to gain operational experience in a new area and to test vessel systems.
“Currently, we do not see the Northern Sea Route as a viable commercial alternative to existing east-west routes. In general, we plan new services according to trading patterns, population centres and our customers demand,” says Palle Laursen, Chief Technical Officer at Maersk.
“That said, we do follow the development of the Northern Sea Route. Today, the passage is only feasible for around three month a year which may change with time. Furthermore, we also must consider that ice-classed vessels are required to make the passage, which means an additional investment.”
“Venta Maersk” is one of Maersk Line’ s new ice class Baltic feeders designed specifically to operate in cold waters down to -25 degrees C. They have a nominal capacity of 3,596 TEU and are equipped with 600 reefer plugs.
“Venta Maersk” is the fourth in the series of seven sister vessels and was delivered on July 11, 2018. Her already delivered sister ships are deployed in the Sealand – A Maersk company (formerly known as Seago Line’s) Baltic feeder network serving Russia and calling St. Petersburg.
They have sheltered forecastle deck for safe mooring operations in winter conditions and enclosed bridge wings for safe manoeuvring and harbour approach. Their propeller and rudder design has been optimised for lowest fuel consumption. In addition, the vessels use marine fuel, which is fully compliant with the Emission Control Area (ECA) rules established by the International Maritime Organisation.
On her voyage from Busan to Bremerhaven, “Venta Maersk” carried 660 reefer containers.
Technical characteristics of “Venta Maersk” and her sisterships:
- Length overall: 200 m
- Beam (breadth): 35.2 m
- Height (above baseline): 56.1 m
- Height (above waterline): 46.1 m
- Draught: 11 m
- Main engine: MAN B&W
- Nominal capacity: 3596 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit)
- Reefer capacity: 600 plugs
- Standard crew: up to 28
- Builder: COSCO Zhoushan Shipyard, China
- Flag state: Denmark
