Polarcus Alima and Jaya Amazon provided something totally different to the waterfront scene at Port Chalmers when they met there by chance, last Wednesday morning. The latter vessel had sailed from Dunedin the previous evening and had to tie-up at the multipurpose berth because of fog in the lower harbour.
They will working together on survey work in the Great South Basin and are specialised vessels which went into service earlier this year.
The 7894gt Polarcus Alima is an ultramodern, high ice class, 12-streamer seismic vessel.
It is of the Ulstein SX134 design and features the innovated Ulstein X-bow hull. The Ulstein group shipyards in Norway have established themselves as leaders in designing vessels for use in the offshore oil industry, and their designs are now produced by other yards throughout the world.
Adding interest to the visit by Polarcus Alima is the fact that the ship is the first-Dubai-built one to call here. Built by Drydocks World Dubai LLC and laid down on July 1, 2009, it was launched on September 11, 2010, and completed this year on March 21. The 92m long vessel is owned by Polarcus Alima AS, managed by Polarcus DMCC, and is registered in the Bahamas.
The vessel combines the latest developments in maritime systems with the most advanced seismic technology commercially available. It is among the most environmentally sound seismic vessels in the market with diesel-electric propulsion, catalytic converters, double hull and advanced ballast water treatment/bilge water cleaning systems. Classed with Det Norske Veritas it also complies with their stringent clean design notation.
Propulsion machinery of the Wartsila design comprises four nine-cylinder and two nine-cylinder units rated at 1800kW and 2850kW respectively. They give the vessel a maximum speed of 15 knots. The vessel is also equipped with stern and bow tunnel thrusters and a retractable azimuth bow thruster.
Dubai-based Polarcus was launched in 2008. The fleet of eight vessels, all registered at Nassau, are of the Ulstein designs and all were built at Dubai. Two each are SX124 and SX133 types and Polarcus Alima was the second of four SX134 class vessels to be built there.
Support vessel Jaya Amazon is a 1458gt, anchor-handling supply vessel. Laid down on January 12, 2009, by the Guangzhou Hangtong shipyard, it was launched on June 25, 2010. The 58.7m long vessel was delivered on January 14, 2011.
It is owned by JSE Shipping Pte Ltd, which is part of the Jaya Holdings group of Singapore. Founded in 1981 with a single vessel, Jaya for a period in the 1990s operated, owned or chartered conventional vessels and container ships.
Fortunes changed in 1993 after it withdrew from that sector and established its Tuas shipyard at Singapore and also one on the Indonesian island of Batam, about the same time. Four years ago it turned its attention to China and acquired the Nantong Dongjiang shipyard. This facility has the capacity to build container ships, bulk carriers and tankers.
The Jaya fleet itself is made up of 17 anchor-handling supply vessels and six other miscellaneous craft.
Here for the first time this week are Bulktec, Amyntor and Forest Creator. Hong Kong-registered Bulktec is a 20,763gt vessel owned by Bulktex Maritime Ltd and managed by the Adani Shipping China Company, of Dalian. Delivered by the Taizhou Maple Leaf yard on June 22, 2009, it will discharge at Ravensbourne before taking on logs at Port Chalmers.
Marshall Islands-flagged Amyntor will also load logs. This 17,023gt vessel was handed over on July 16, 2009, by the Shimanami shipyard. It is registered to the ownership of Magnus Navigation Inc, part of the the Evalend Shipping Company of Athens.
Panama-registered Forest Creator is a 40,328gt woodchip carrier, completed by the Imabari (Marugame) yard on September 24, 1996. It is the fourth largest vessel of this type to call here. Its owners are recorded as being Prosper Sunwaito S.A., of Kobe.
