Released: April 24, 2018

​CaytransBBC is pleased to announce its commencement of service to Guyana with a cargo of about 8000 cubic meters of fiberglass storage tanks, cement silos, and other cargo for a cement and mud plant to be operated by Schlumberger for ExxonMobil’s offshore drilling. DBSchenker did the prep work by inspecting the cargo, booking the cargo, and supervising the technical aspects before attending the loading and discharge. 

The cargo was loaded on board the MV BBC Caribbean at Port Fourchon from January 28-30 by the ship’s crew, and discharged in Georgetown from February 11-13, working daylight hours only.  Prior to loading at Port Fourchon the vessel also loaded about 750 tons of steel pipes in Houston for ExxonMobil, for whom Blue Water Shipping is the freight forwarder. 

The shipment of tanks was originally intended to be a full cargo.  However, it was determined that the pipes could be accommodated along with the tanks.  The MV BBC Caribbean is a 379’ LOA vessel, with 2 x 60mt cranes, which is capable of operating at depth, length, and beam restricted ports like Fourchon and Georgetown.  As most of the tanks and silos required loading upright with heights up to 29 feet, the tweendeck could not be used with the result that the lower hold and deck were planned to be completely full. 

While loading was proceeding as planned, the shippers first asked for two more tanks to be loaded – and then for three more tanks to be loaded!  Although, it appeared there would be no space left for this additional cargo, CaytransBBC’s staff port captain, Joshua Jordan, found a way to further consolidate and all the cargo requested was loaded. 

Captain Jordan also attended the discharge at the Guyana Shore Base. The Shore Base is a new facility, intended for offshore service, similar to the facility operation at Port Fourchon.  Unlike the load facility,  where the shore labor typically works only on shore, the Shore Base offers crews eager to learn vessel stevedoring. 

Accordingly, for the free out discharge, the ship’s crew and Captain Jordan assisted the stevedores from the start, supplying the equipment and assisting them to remove the lashings of 13mm chains and binders. For many of the tall pieces it was necessary for the ship’s crew to climb up and rig as the stevedores lacked sufficient experience to perform this work safely. 

At the end, Mr. Lowell Stewart, Vice-President of Dan-Gulf Shipping, Inc., the managing agents for CaytransBBC commented, “considering the challenging environments for loading and discharge, the performance of the ship’s crew and the CaytransBBC port captain were what allowed the operations to be completed in 3 days each instead of a week or more.   All of our operations are conducted with the idea of achieving the greatest efficiency without compromising safety regardless of the contractual terms.” Our local port agents in Guyana, Ramps Logistics, also played an integral part in the process. 

After the successful completion of their inaugural voyage to Guyana, CaytransBBC performed another voyage in March and has two more voyages planned, with the intention of providing a regular liner service to Guyana, Surinam, and Trinidad. 

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