deugro Ships Polymer Plant to Russia

deugro recently moved 35,541 freight tons of cargo for the Irkutsk Polymer Plant Project to Russia via the Bering Strait.

The cargo contained 45 oversized heavy-lift components that was shipped simultaneously on two full charter vessels from Masan, South Korea, via Tiksi in the Arctic Ocean to Ust-Kut, Russia.

The project was coordinated between deugro (Japan) Co. Ltd., deugro Project LLC Russia, and deugro (Korea) Co. Ltd. The navigation period was limited to three months, due to the Northern Sea Route and navigation on the Lena River. The vessels were accompanied by the nuclear ice breaker Yamal.

Deugro began working with the client in 2016, preparing a survey and helping the project owner determine the right location to construct a jetty on the Lena River. Deugro coordinated with the client in conducting several road surveys to transport the 45 pieced, which included a 597-tonne reactor that measured 44.5 meters by 11 meters by 10 meters, and an ethylene fractionator weighing 357 tonnes and measuring 92 by 8 by 7 meters, from the Port of Tiksi via the Lena River to the project site in Ust-Kut.

Dteq Transport Engineering Solutions, a deugro group company, reviewed method statements for loading, unloading, stowing, securing and transportation.

Most of the oversize cargo came from South Korea and transit time to Tiksi via the Bering Strait was the fastest route, it was consolidated and loaded at the port of Masan. Much of the cargo from China and Japan were loaded onto the same chartered vessel to Masan, to avoid double-handling.


‘Precise Cooperation’

Following the 4,500 nautical mile journey to the Port of Tiksi, transshipment from the two vessels was executed outside of the port area due to low draft. The barges then traveled by river from Tiksi to Ust-Kut, over 24 to 26 days.

“Challenging and rapidly changing weather conditions during transshipment required highly professional and precise cooperation of all teams to execute the operations according to plan within six days,” said Sergey Godlevskiy, regional vice resident – Russia and CIS, deugro Projects LLC Russia.

“With a large number of rifts, where depths can merely be 115 to 130 centimeters during mid-August to mid-September, the most challenging part of the river was at Peleduy, Ust-Kut. Therefore, the main objective was to carry out the movement of the barges through the rapids section of the river and to deliver all of them to Ust-Kut before a possible falling of the water level,” said Pavel Sinitsyn, project manager, deugro Projects LLC Russia.

The unloading operations from the barges took place at the Ust-Kut jetty, which was designed and built by the owner in accordance with the technical solutions from deugro.

Accompanied by escort cars and cars of the traffic police, daily convoys transported the cargo on the Viluy federal highway and a separate road, which was built especially for this purpose in compliance with the technical requirements and under the control of deugro, to the construction site.

Due to the extraordinary dimensions and weights of the fractionator and the reactor , basic parameters such as the turning radius of the axial lines on curves, the height of upper constructions, the longitudinal slope of the road or the axle loading weight had to be considered to ensure smooth road transportation.

“Considering the scope of the whole project and the high number of interfaces, barge voyages and overland trips, preparation, timing, coordination and teamwork were key to successful project delivery. Teamwork and the full support of the client, project owner and all subcontractors made this great project a success even during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Eun-Hee Jeong, director, deugro (Japan) Co. Ltd.

“It took a great deal of time for planning and required the concentration of the best effort of all concerned parties until the completion of this project. The best collaboration brought this successful result, which has been recorded as the one of the biggest shipments that has ever made its way up the Lena River to the Irkutsk region, and the first transportation for Toyo through the Northern Sea Route,” said Jung-Ah Kang, lead transportation coordinator, Toyo Engineering Corp.

Watch a video of the project move.