Cold and adverse conditions require the right multipurpose vessel for the job, and Schulte & Bruns’ FWN Bonafide was the right fit for an icy task. The vessel loaded various types of cargo and delivered it to the Rothera Research Station in the Antarctic.

In march 2021, construction expert BAM Nuttall, with design consultants Sweco, have secured a 10-year deal to modernise the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) research stations. Over the agreed 10-year period the partnership will work on multiple projects including new scientific support buildings, laboratories, accommodation, upgraded recycling and waste management facilities, and runway enhancements. The partnership will also explore renewable energy options and decarbonisation.

Commenting on the deal in 2021, professor Dame Jane Francis, Director of British Antarctic Survey said, “Building on the successful delivery of new wharves to support the RRS Sir David Attenborough, and existing project to deliver a new science operations facility at Rothera Research Station, our ambition is to continue to replace ageing buildings with modern, highly insulated and energy-efficient infrastructure.”

The project requires various types of cargo and construction materials to be brought to the Adelaide Island and BAM Nuttal turned to the logistics solutions provider Trans Global Projects for help with the project cargo.

For the third trip to Adelaide Island with construction materials for the Rothera Research Station, TGP partnered with ForestWave/Schulte & Bruns to charter the Dutch-flagged FWN Bonafide. The 2006-built general cargo vessel was the right fit for the job, as it is strengthened for heavy cargo, has Finnish and Swedish Ice Class 1A and is equipped for carriage of containers.

This is exactly what it had to transport on its trip to the Antarctic where it arrived in early January. It delivered 232 containers and numerous pieces of oversized, heavy equipment, such as a spreader and a 37 tonne crusher, as well as concrete slabs and fabricated steel. The cargo was loaded in the Port of TEES in the United Kingdom at the end of December.

The vessel had long completed its delivery and is currently sailing in the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil, heading to the Port of Charleston in the United States, the vessel’s AIS data shows.