Beluga Bremen Heavy Lift Vessel

I logged lots of nautical miles on this one, the first mission for a brand-new heavy lift vessel, the Beluga Bremen; at that time the most powerful ship of its kind and the two largest cranes ever installed on a ship, together capable of lifting 1400 tonnes. We picked up a massive 780 tonne autoclave (basically a giant pressure cooker for mining operations) in Kuantan, Malaysia and sailed through the South China Sea to Shanghai. In China we loaded additional heavy cargo, then Bremen headed across the vast Pacific Ocean. After the Pacific crossing, Bremen transited through the Panama Canal to the Atlantic where we completed the last leg to the destination, a mining operation in Samana, Dominican Republic for offload. In total the Bremen’s voyage to deliver the autoclave was over 11,000 nautical miles. After the offload in Samana the next challenge was taking the autoclave through villages and towns, across narrow reinforced bridges (27 of them built specifically for the transport) to the Pueblo Viejo Mining Project.

Tech Specs

Vessel Type: General Cargo
Classification: Finnish-Swedish 1A
Gross Tonnage: 17,634 tons
Summer DWT: 19,413
Length: 551 ft
Draft: 23 ft
Cargo Capacity: 25,959m3
Cranes: 700 tonnes SWL, combined 1,400 tonnes SWL