Verslag gekopieerd het ons rederijblaadje.
Om een beetje warm te blijven...
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An eventful voyage
Happy Star to Sept-lies
After completing the maiden voyage in December 2014, mv Happy Star was selected for a special voyage. This time we would load 2 complete ship loaders in Nansha, China, and transport them to the other side of the planet to Sept-Iles, Canada.
Once there we would not only discharge, but also install the ship loaders, which included a whole conveyor belt system, on a newly built jetty. And all in the midst of the Canadian winter. On top of that, a film crew from Discovery Channel would sail along from the Panama Canal to Canada and film everything on board for the well-known programme "Mighty Ships" which will feature Happy Star for a full episode.
Loading
After arrival in Nansha, we immediately started to prepare the vessel for loading. As she was still brand new, we had to sort out and do a lot of things for the first time, but quickly the vessel turned out to be very easy to handle. The 8 pontoon type hatches by themselves weigh 130 mt each, and you have to handle them with care. The 2 900 mt cranes are huge, with a lifting height of 46 metres above the main deck. Shifting tween decks also takes time, as the tween deck supports weigh 350 kg each and can only be handled by using chain blocks from a flyer suspended in the crane.
For the next 10 days, the crew worked long days to get the cargo in the hold and on deck. It was a lot of cargo, and the hold and decks would be completely full, but careful planning at the Biglift office made sure that everything fitted on board nicely. The heaviest pieces to be loaded were the 2 ship loaders, which weighed around 940 mt each. Each ship loader was accompanied by a tripper car of around 270 mt and a tripper tail of 50 mt. Below decks, we would load the galleries for the conveyor belt system.
On the 24th of December we stopped a bit earlier to ceiebrate Christmas eve, but the next day it was all hands on deck again to continue loading.
Finally on December 29th, we completed all cargo operations and were ready to sail. First, a quick stop in Hong Kong - which was just around the corner - for bunkers and provisions, and then on to the long Pacific Ocean crossing ahead.
Pacific
Normally not much happens during a long ocean crossing, but this time we were kept quite busy. Since it was a new and one-of-a-kind vessel there still was a long list of open items from the shipyard that we had to attend to and fix. A large part of the vessel also needed additional painting, and this kept the crew busy for the whole month on the Pacific. Of course, we also wanted to have the vessel look nice when Discovery Channel would board in Balboa.
Discovery Channel
It was previously agreed that a 3 men team of Discovery Channel would sail along with us from Balboa to Sept-Iles to record an episode for the program "Mighty Ships". Once arrived in Sept-Iles, they would stay on board for another week or so to film part of the discharging operations. On the day of arrival at Balboa the first signs of their presence were noticed. A chartered helicopter circled around us for 2 hours to take shots while we were underway, which would later be used in the programme.
When we dropped anchor at Balboa roads, the boat with the film crew, comprising a director/camera man, a camera man, and a sound recorder man arrived, and they immediately began rigging their gear and started filming. In no time the whole ship was covered in HD cameras, DSLR's, multiple GoPro cameras, and microphones. The crew got microphones attached to their shirts and soon there were very few places where we were safe from the cameras and the microphones. The next morning we heaved anchor and with 2 pilots we started our maiden transit through the Panama Canal. Doing your work while being filmed all the time, and also giving interviews in between made everyone a bit uneasy at the start, but soon we got used to it, and being filmed became more natural.
We originally thought that they would film us while we were just doing our work, but this turned out to be more intensive. Many times, officers and crew were interviewed while doing something "interesting". We were also asked to replay certain scenarios to have better shots. This led to many hilarious moments, because we all felt we made absolute fools of ourselves. We were quite relieved that the film crew didn't ask us to redo the passage through the canal in order to obtain better shots!
Atlantic
After passing the Panama Canal, we continued our voyage through the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic. Meanwhile the Discovery Channel crew kept filming everyday life on board: Checking lashings, checking weather forecasts, galley shots when meals got prepared, and repairs and maintenance to equipment.
They were particularly interested in occurring "problems", and seeing how the crew would solve them. And of course they loved bad weather shots. Lucky for them, but not so lucky for us we sailed into a typical Atlantic winter storm with 50 knot winds, and waves of up to 8 metres. They were very happy with the shots taken during this weather.
Ice
It had been very, very cold in Canada in the last 2 months and this led to the development of a lot of ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. By the time we arrived in the Gulf, the ice had substantial thickness and many ridges were developing due to the winds and currents. Since this would be the very first time for the ship to sail through ice, we were a bit anxious about how she would perform. It turned out she did extraordinary when in ice. We encountered ice of up to 70cm thick, with ridges up to a meter and were able to sail through most of the ice without much effort. Only the thickest ridges would slow us down. We assisted another Canadian vessel which had got stuck in the ice and passed close by so that she could follow in our track, and of course, again, the Discovery Channel crew were very happy with all those beautiful shots in the ice.
Arrival and installation
The next morning we finally arrived in Sept-Iles. The temperature had dropped to -29 Celsius and wouldn't rise much for the next 17 days in port. Had we been greeted by one helicopter at arrival in Panama, this time 3 helicopters with camera crews were circling around us. Our arrival had drawn a lot of media attention, as the ship loaders were destined for a major port development project.
With 3 helicopters hovering around the bridge wing, filming our arrival, it made manoeuvring a bit difficult, as the pilot and I could absolutely not hear each other anymore, even if we were standing only 2 feet away from each other.
That same evening our arrival was broadcasted on Canadian national television.
In port, we were joined by our 2 project managers Germent and Cees, and also Saskia from the Spliethoff marketing department joined to shoot a film of the discharging operations.
With the sea passage ended, we could now start discharging and installing the two ship loaders and other components. Anticipating the extreme conditions we would encounter, additional crew had been flown in a few days earlier to assist on deck, in order to have always sufficient crew on deck whilst other crewmembers could warm up inside the accommodation.
Most of the days, the temperature would not rise above -20 Celsius. Work on deck was hard and difficult. A lot of unlashing had to be done as all cargo had been secured with wires. The lifting gear was all frozen and handling it was difficult. Almost every day a substantial amount of time was needed to clear the decks of snow. Everything went slower than usual, but still we made good progress.
Despite the cold conditions, we only had to shut down cargo operations twice when temperatures dropped too much and gale force winds, caused wind-chills of -34 Celsius. At that point, it was just too risky too continue working on deck.
Despite the extreme cold, we had hardly any problems at all with the cranes and deck equipment. Everything kept working welt.
The Discovery crew did a great job filming the cargo operations. They were to be found on deck all the time, wherever the action was. Sadly, about a week in port they had to leave as their deadline had come. We had all gotten used to the presence of cameras wherever we went and, the countless interviews we had given. On the other hand, it was also nice to be finally able to fully concentrate on our jobs again. After a nice farewell dinner in a agreeable restaurant ashore, they left for their next mission.
Meanwhile, the deck had been cleared of the major components, and only the conveyor galleries, which had been loaded in the hold were left to install. For the next four days we discharged and installed the galleries onto their frames on the jetty, shifting the vessel along the jetty several times in order to reach all discharging spots.
Finally, after 17 days of hard work in very cold and sometimes windy conditions, all components had been safely discharged and installed. Another difficult project safely executed, and one to be proud of!
The next day, we set sail again for the ice covered Gulf of St. Lawrence, sailing back to China, to load another ship loader.
wish to thank all the crew for their very hard work both in China and in Canada, the project managers Germent and Cees for their excellent assistance, the crew department for the extra crew and winter outfits, and the Discovery team for their good humour and providing us with a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Zo, en dan ga ik nu lekker taart maken 
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