January 10 - Combi Lift has announced a contract with Schenker which will see two of the shipping line's semi-submersible ships being deployed on the Gorgon LNG project in Australia.
The forwarder initially announced in January 2010 that it had won a contract from the Kellogg Joint Venture , a consortium under contract to Chevron , ExxonMobil and Shell , to provide integrated logistical services to transport more than two million freight tonnes to module production plants in Asia and/or directly to Australia.
Combi Lift states that the two ships, Combi Dock I and Combi Dock III were selected for the project as they are "incomparable within the heavy lift market' adding that "the Combi Dock ship type is the only type capable of continuously delivering goods via the cranes (lo-lo) and stern ramp (ro-ro) despite the turn of the tide in Barrow Island.
"This contract proves that the Combi Dock type is one of the most flexible and complex ship types within the heavy lift segment",
Anders Poulsen COO and Combi Lift partner states and continues: "the ships have been refitted in order to roll cargo directly from the tween deck and for us to meet the environmental requirements for calling Barrow Island."
The Gorgon contract is the result of many years of hard work for Combi Lift, as Barrow Island is an internationally significant nature reserve and the use of the Island is very restricted.
This means for example that any cargo coming in is to be cleansed and only 3,500 people are allowed on the island at a time.
It is estimated that it will take more than 30 million man hours to finish the facility and most of the work is therefore carried out away from the island. This means that practically everything, from the base to the facility itself and the port, is produced off the island in large modules, which are then transported to the island for completion.
Combi Lift says that both ships have been delivered into the project and Combi Dock III was the first ship to call at Barrow Island's newly established quay.
