Blue Water to handle Nord Stream 2 pipes for Wasco
After Nord Stream 2 AG awarded Wasco Coatings Europe a contract for concrete weight coating, storage and logistics of the 200,000 pipes for the namesake pipeline, Wasco has now awarded Denmark’s Blue Water Shipping a contract for the transport, handling and storage of 113,000 of the pipes.
Nord Stream 2 AG, the project developer of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline through the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, said in a statement on Wednesday that the remaining 87,000 pipes are shipped directly from the coating facilities to the pipelay vessels.
Five companies participated in a tender which resulted in Blue Water’s headquarters in Denmark getting the contract worth 40 million euros. The contract will also involve the company’s local offices in Sweden, Finland and Germany, as well as local subcontractors in Sweden and Finland.
According to the statement announcing the contract award, Blue Water Shipping’s contract covers sea transport of pipes from Wasco’s coating facilities in Mukran, Germany, and Kotka, Finland, to storage yards in Karlshamn, Sweden, and Hanko, Finland. This part of the project will cover about 475 shipments by coaster vessels. Blue Water’s contract covers loading the pipes, transport to storage yards, operation of the storage yards – and finally loading of the feeder vessels transferring the pipes to the pipelay vessels from Allseas.
“We are very proud to have won this contract. Over the years, we have built a strong position as a specialist in managing and executing projects with logistical challenges. We have comprehensive experience with port operations including the management and operation of temporary facilities,” states Kurt Skov, CEO and Founder of Blue Water Shipping.
Blue Water will work in close cooperation with Wasco, which will coat each of the 200,000 high-density steel pipes with concrete – doubling the weight of the 12-meter pipes to 24 tons per pipe on average. The first shipment of pipes is planned to start in July.
“We are excited to work with Blue Water and we are confident that the company will be able to support us in ensuring the success of the Nord Stream 2 project,” said Rik Nugteren, Project Director of Wasco Coatings Germany GmbH.
The two 1,200-km Nord Stream 2 pipelines will mostly follow the route of the existing Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea – from the coast of Russia to Greifswald on Germany’s northern coast. It will have the capacity to transport up to 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from Russia to Europe, connecting with pipelines within the European Union for onwards transmission.
Nord Stream 2’s logistics concept is based on the use of logistics hubs located in ports around the Baltic Sea. The project-related operations will provide a positive economic impact on the ports and subcontractors and contribute to long-term development.
Henning Kothe, Nord Stream 2 AG’s Project Director, said: “This latest contract brings the total contractual commitments on the Nord Stream 2 project to over 4 billion EUR, involving more than 200 companies from 17 countries, most of them coming from Europe. The project is progressing according to schedule.”
