ARRC’s first Europe to US transit vessel heads for Houston
ARRC's Baltic Mercur II is on its final leg of its westbound voyage from the Port of Antwerp to Texas Terminals at the Port of Houston. The transit is the first for ARRC on its new monthly service between Europe and the U.S. Gulf, the company said in its press release.
The vessel will be discharging a variety of cargoes including project cargo, metals and containers, once it reaches Houston. The project cargo consists of three 138-ton transformers manufactured by Siemens. Each unit measures 7.15 meters long, 3.56 meters wide and 4.46 meters high, and are destined for a substation in Illinois.
The shipper had very strict requirements, Nikolay Sokolov, AARC vice president for trade development told Breakbulk. "We had to produce a method statement detailing the stowage and lashing of the unit while on board, which was subsequently approved by the shipper," Sokolov said. "ARRC actually contracted the CNIIMF (Central Scientific Research Institute for Marine Fleet) to perform calculations needed for the method statement."
The cargo was loaded at Zudnatie Terminal in Antwerp, which has a very good working relationship with Texas Terminals, where the cargo will be discharged. "Both are home terminals for ARRC, which of course gave us a competitive edge for this booking," he said.
The Baltic Mercur II is due to arrive at Texas Terminals this weekend.