A state-of-the-art British polar research ship was officially christened Sir David Attenborough at a shipyard in Birkenhead last week.
The ship will be mobilised to the Rothera Research Station in the Antarctic.
A number of companies active in the heavy lift and project logistics sector have played roles in the construction of the vessel, and the berth where it will be mobilised to.
In January 2018, HLPFI reported that ALE transported the partially completed polar research vessel from the fabrication hall to the slipway at Cammell Laird Shiprepairs & Shipbuilders' Birkenhead shipyard in the UK.
Weighing 5,000 tonnes, the vessel was moved 41 m using 216 axle lines of SPMTs and 26 transport beams.
During August 2018, Kotug Smit Towage was involved in towing the hull of Sir David Attenborough in the Cammell Laird basin.
Meanwhile, at the end of November 2018, HLPFI reported that Trans Global Projects Group (TGP) was handling the delivery of equipment and construction materials to the British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) Rothera Research Station located at Rothera Point, Adelaide Island in the Antarctic.
TGP was contracted by BAM, the global construction and civil engineering company in charge of removing Rothera Point’s old wharf and constructing a new facility that will accommodate the polar research vessel.
As no construction equipment or material was available on site in Rothera, TGP worked closely with BAM to consolidate, prepare and ship almost all of the necessary supplies for the wharf removal and re-construction on a single vessel charter.
While Antarctica has one of the coldest and harshest climates in the world, TGP explained that it also has unique and sensitive ecosystems that can be threatened by the incursion of non-native species of plants and animals.
