Heavy lift vessel 'Fairpartner' Photo, Jumbo.

Jumbo sails 2600 miles in 29 days in India

One of the 9 heavy lift vessels from Jumbo, Fairpartner, was recently tasked to sail from the west to the east coast of India travelling almost 2600 nautical miles with three separate cargoes onboard, calling at five ports, all in 29 days. This is the longest time a Jumbo vessel has stayed in Indian waters and performed a complete coastal voyage.

Heavy lift vessel 'Fairpartner' Photo, Jumbo.
Heavy lift vessel 'Fairpartner' Photo, Jumbo.
Heavy lift vessel ‘Fairpartner’ Photo, Jumbo.

For this extensive trip, Jumbo combined three cargo loads of refinery, port and LNG equipment from three clients, Allcargo Logistics Ltd, Total Movements Ltd., and Global Golden Coast Private Ltd in one single voyage to the ports of Hazira, Paradip, Kakinada, Gopalpur and Dhamra. To adhere to the regulations, set by the Indian authorities when sailing coastal, a Special Voyage License (SVL) needed to be issued to us by the Indian authorities for each cargo/client.

First stop in Hazira

The first stop on the tour was in Port of Hazira in Gujarat. With a lot of ship traffic in the area, the port authority sets limitations to the maximum width of the vessels and their pontoons. On this occasion, some cargo needed to be loaded from barges, which required the team to set up Jumbo’s stabiliser pontoon. Precision engineering and meticulous planning by the entire Jumbo team and their partners was essential to the overall planning being approved by the port. In the end, the port authorities allowed Jumbo to perform their loading operations as outlined without any disruption.

The first cargoes loaded in Hazira included a 1250mt EO reactor, a 1075mt wash tower and five other large pieces of heavy refinery equipment for the Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) Paradip – MEG Project. The reactor was the heaviest piece of equipment ever to be transported to this refinery. It also proved challenging to load due to its short length and concentrated weight. The wash tower, which was also the longest (96m x 7,8m x 8,6m) piece of equipment this plant had ordered, the EO reactor, deethylenizer (715 tonnes), the steam drum (308 tonnes) and the re-condenser were loaded from three separate barges. The smaller pieces, a drying column, fifth effect evaporator and sixth effect evaporator were loaded from the quay side. Each item was safely stowed, some resting on saddles in the hold with the lengthier items being secured to the ship’s deck.

Three Ports of Paradip, Kakinada & Gopalpur

At the congested port of Paradip, Jumbo’s client Allcargo secured a priority berth and all seven refinery equipment items for the MEG project were carefully discharged onto SPMT’s by the crew and the Fairpartner’s two 900t capacity cranes.

With unloading operations complete and the clock still ticking, the Fairpartner and crew motored on to Kakinada Port where two LHM550 cranes were waiting to be loaded at the quay. OSL, the owners of the fully assembled cranes, organised efficient berthing on arrival at the port and it did not take long before each crane weighing 357mt was loaded onto the weather deck and safely secured by the crew. The Fairpartner then set course for the next stop on the tour; the nearby Port of Gopalpur in Odisha where the cranes were discharged alongside the vessel.

Final stop in Dhamra

The final piece of the cargo puzzle which had been loaded in Hazira Port was a 133mt BOG Condenser which needed to be delivered to Dhamra Port close by. The reactor was safely discharged for our awaiting client and it was almost time to stop the clock.

This video made by a preferred agent in India Wheel & Time/Gautamraj Sharma shows the detailed footage from loading to discharging in every port.

View on Youtube.

Jumbo’s Partners

Wheel & Time, Jumbo’s commercial agents in India played a pivotal management role by closely coordinating with GAC India and various other agents at the five ports, with the three clients and their engineering and administrative teams, as well as with the various port authorities and permissions related to Indian cabotage laws.

The Fairpartner and her crew completed their coastal voyage and sailed out of Indian waters within the 29-day limit, making for three satisfied customers. Another safe and reliable performance serving multiple clients in one trip.