The McMurdo ice pier used last summer for off-loading ship cargo; no longer needed was blasted to pieces at the start of winter with high explosives

The Green Wave at McMurdo Station, Antarctica

With the summer season officially over in Antarctica, International scientists in the region are finishing construction projects and are buttoning up McMurdo station in preparation for the coming winter. One impressive project that’s been recently completed  for U.S. Transportation Command is the replacement of an ice pier that was unusable due to uncharacteristically high temperatures this year at the world’s southernmost harbor, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.

The new pier was built to enable the National Science Foundation staff to resupply workers at McMurdo Station, the largest community on the frozen continent.

Normally, the resupply ship docks at an ice pier built out into the sound. The ice bridge usually can take the weight of trucks, containers, heavy equipment and supplies. But this year, that wasn’t the case.

“We were notified in November that the ice pier that is used to accept cargo at McMurdo was unusable this year,” said Col. Howard McArthur, the West Branch chief at TRANSCOM.

To accept the heavy use, the ice pier has to be about 20 feet thick. This year, it was only 9 feet. The NSF, which runs the Antarctic research effort, had a problem.

Whatever they were going to do had to happen quickly. About 150 people spend the winter at McMurdo Station, and there is only one annual supply ship for the entire year. It arrives just before winter sets in, and carries food, scientific instruments, general supplies and everything else needed to run the station and supply other research stations. Another ship brings in about 6 million gallons of fuel.

“Through collaboration between TRANSCOM, Pacific Command’s Joint Task Force Support Forces to Antarctica and the National Science Foundation, it was determined that the Army’s modular causeway system would work,” said Army Lt. Col. Rich Whittingslow, the Pacific Command branch chief at TRANSCOM.

In early December, Army Capt. Christina Shelton, the commander of the 331st Transportation Company based at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., got a phone call telling her to prepare her unit for movement to Antarctica.

“I thought they were joking,” she said.

The mission was to transport the system to Port Hueneme, Calif., load it aboard the Green Wave and send it to Antarctica. Soldiers then would fly to McMurdo to be in place when the ship arrived, and build the pier so that the supplies aboard the Green Wave could be off-loaded.

Once that was done, they would have to disassemble the pier, load it back on the ship and go home. Nothing like it had been done before.

“We were very excited, because we train year-round for any type of global contingency operations, whether it is warfighting, humanitarian operations and anything of that nature,” Shelton said.

It usually is just training, and this “was a real-world mission,” she said. “It was a chance to put our expertise to work.”

Soldiers loaded the gear onto 52 commercial trucks for the trip to Port Hueneme. They loaded aboard the Green Wave and the ship set sail Jan. 16.

Shelton said she knew there would be challenges, not the least of which was temperature. When the Soldiers arrived Feb. 10, the temperature was a relatively balmy 28 degrees.

“It quickly got colder and much windier,” the captain said.

Temperatures dropped well below zero, and with the wind chill it was like working in 60-below-zero temperatures, she said.

The NSF staff issued the full set of gear to work in these conditions to the Soldiers.

“We had cold-weather parkas, bunny boots, extreme cold-weather gloves, balaclavas, special wool socks – everything we needed to build the pier,” Shelton said.

The Green Wave arrived at McMurdo Station on Feb. 13. Joining the Soldiers were 50 Sailors from the Navy Cargo Handling Battalion in Norfolk, Va.

The first two items off the Green Wave were two working tugs, used to push and pull the pieces of the causeway in place. Next, they built the floating portions of the causeway aboard the ship, and lowered them into the water where they fastened them together. These so-called “strings” were 80 feet long by 8 feet wide.

The whole process took two and a half days.

“We would have been done sooner, but it was the first time we had built these aboard ship and the first time we worked with Sailors manning the on-board cranes,” Shelton said. “We got better as we went along.”

It took eight days of 24-hour operations to unload the ship.
Finally, the Soldiers took 36 hours to take the pier apart and reload it aboard the Green Wave. The 331st Transportation Command Soldiers were on the ground in Antarctica from Feb. 10-29. They flew to Christchurch, New Zealand, from Antarctica, and arrived back in Virginia in March.

Officials from the NSF staff are working on a plan to rebuild the ice pier for next year, but it may not be ready. If that’s the case, they may need the steel pier again.

“With what we know now, we can do it even better next year,” Shelton said.

U.S. Navy photo by Larry Larsson

Here, the Military Sealift Command-chartered cargo ship MV Green Wave is in the process of offloading more than 6.8 million pounds of vital supplies, including food and research equipment, loaded from Port Hueneme, California at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica.

The delivery was part of Operation Deep Freeze, an annual resupply mission to the McMurdo Station that was completed on February 24th. Just one month earlier, the MSC-chartered tanker MT Maersk Peary brought more than 6.3 million gallons of crucial diesel, gasoline and jet fuel to the station.

Operation Deep Freeze supplies 100 percent of the McMurdo Stations yearly supply of fuel and about 80 percent of the supplies needed by researchers and support personnel living and working across Antarctica throughout the year.

After unloading its cargo, the MV Green Wave was loaded with cargo needed to be taken off the continent, including ice core samples, trash, and other materials.  The MV Green Wave is due back at Port Hueneme on March 26.

This image from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NAS's Terra spacecraft was acquired Nov. 13, 2011, and covers an area of 27 by 32 miles (44 by 52 kilometers), and is located near 74.9 degrees south latitude, 101.1 degrees west longitude. Photo: NASA

In recognition of the start of the 2012 Ice Season, which typically runs from February through July, we bring you this photo showing a massive crack across the Pine Island Glacier, a major ice stream that drains the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

The crack was first discovered in mid-October when NASA scientists working studying the Pine Island Glacier saw a major rift in the ice during a an exploratory flyover.

Scientists say that the crack, which extends for 19 miles and is 260 feet wide by 195 feet deep, will eventually extend all the way across the glacier and calve a giant iceberg measuring some 350 square miles.

VIDEO: NASA scientist discover the crack in the Pine Island Glacier

Close up of the crack in the Pine Island Glacier. Photo: NASA

Photo courtesy of the National Science Foundation

Update 2: 13 Jan 2012

A United States Airforce (USAF) C-130 Hercules aircraft departed McMurdo station at 12.35pm today (NZDT) with the 7 injured crew on board. Three of the men are seriously injured.

• The aircraft’s ETA in Christchurch is 8.45pm this evening (NZDT).
• The injured crew will be taken to Christchurch hospital on arrival for assessment and further treatment as required.
• Note that photos and video are not available. The USAF advise there will be no media access or interviews when the aircraft lands in Christchurch.
• RCCNZ’s role in the incident will come to an end once the aircraft lands in Christchurch

UPDATE 13 Jan 2012:

The USAF C-17 Globemaster III aircraft was unable to make its scheduled flight from Christchurch to McMurdo Base overnight because of weather conditions at the destination.

• The Nathaniel B. Palmer carrying the injured crew has arrived at McMurdo, and the injured crew are being transferred by helicopter to the base.
• They will be flown to Christchurch this afternoon (leaving approximately 12.15pm NZDT) on a special flight using a C-130 which was already at McMurdo. The flight is expected to arrive at Christchurch at around 8pm NZDT.

(MARITIME NZ) A United States Airforce (USAF) C17 Starlifter Globemaster III aircraft will leave Christchurch tonight to help recover seven crew injured in a fire on board the Korean fishing vessel Jeong Woo 2 in the Ross Sea early on Wednesday morning (NZDT).

The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) is currently working with a range of agencies to help facilitate the recovery of the seven injured men from the Korean vessel back to New Zealand for hospital treatment.

RCCNZ Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator Greg Johnston said attempts were being made to get a team, including Vietnamese and Indonesian interpreters, on board the aircraft, which was already on a scheduled flight due to leave Christchurch about 9.30pm today.

“Weather permitting, it’s expected that the USAF aircraft will get to McMurdo base about 2am tomorrow (Friday), arriving about the same time as the American research vessel Nathaniel B Palmer, which is currently making her way through the ice with the seven injured crew on board.

“The rescue mission is, however, dependent on the weather and sea conditions, with fog at McMurdo currently causing poor visibility. However, a back up aircraft, a LC 130 Hercules based at McMurdo, is also available if the larger C17 aircraft can’t take off.”

Mr Johnston said once both the vessel and the aircraft had reached McMurdo, the injured crew would be transferred to the aircraft and flown back to Christchurch for treatment.

“All going well, the aircraft will depart McMurdo about 5am, arriving back in New Zealand around 10am, but there are still a number of factors that could cause this to be delayed.”

Two of the seven injured men have received extensive burns (50% and 30% respectively), but have recovered consciousness, and five others have received lighter burns injuries. The Nathaniel B Palmer has medical staff and facilities on board to assess the injured crew’s medical needs, with advice that they are currently stable. The ship’s progress will depend on ice and weather conditions. Three crew have died in the fire.

In the meantime, the 30 surviving crew are all on board the Jeong Woo 2’s sister ship, the Jeong Woo 3, with plans for the vessel to rendezvous with the Korean ice-breaker the Araon, which will collect the crew and take them back to Lyttleton, with the ship estimated to arrive on January 19.

Shot of the Jeong Woo 2 taken from the vessel Nathaniel B Palmer, Credit: Johnny Pierce/Nathaniel B Palmer

Once safe to do so, the wreck of the Jeong Woo 2 will be towed by its sister ship to a position north of 60 degrees south when her future will be decided.

The 51 metre fishing vessel Jeong Woo 2 caught fire in the Ross Sea about 2000 nautical miles (3704 kilometres) southeast of New Zealand and about 600 kilometres north-northeast of McMurdo Base.

A number of vessels responded to the vessel’s distress call, issued in the early hours of Wednesday morning (NZDT). The call was picked up by another Korean fishing vessel, Hong Jin 707, and relayed to RCCNZ by the New Zealand vessel Antarctic Chieftain just before 3am (NZDT) on 11 January.

The R/V Nathaniel B Palmer icebreaker. Photo: Wiki Commons

A Korean fishing vessel caught fire early Wednesday morning in the Ross Sea, approximately 2,000 nautical miles southeast of New Zealand, killing three crew members and injuring several others.  The RCCNZ says that as many as 40 crew members were onboard when it caught fire.

The vessel, the 51 meter Jeong Woo 2, sent out a distress call during the early hours of Wednesday morning which was picked up by another Korean fishing vessel in the area and then relayed to officials from the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ). A number of vessels responded to the call including the two Korean fishing vessels, the Jeong Woo 3 and Hong Jin 707, were able to reach the Jeong Woo 2 and evacuate the crew from the burning vessel.

Three of the crew members were reported missing and presumed dead after the fire tore through the accomodation block of the vessel.  Two others are understood to have suffered extensive burn injuries and another five crew members are also injured with less serious burns, RCCNZ says.

The RCCNZ later confirmed that the injured crew members from the burning vessel had been transferred to the United States research vessel Nathaniel B Palmer, which has medical staff and facilities on board.  The vessel is now sailing to McMurdo Base about 600 kilometers to the southwest.  The trip is expected to take between 24 and 30 hours, depending on ice and weather conditions.

Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator Geoff Lunt said the Nathaniel B Palmer reported on Wednesday evening that the vessel was well alight from bow to stern, but still on an even keel.

It’s been a busy couple weeks for rescue coordinators at RCCNZ.  In December, a fishing vessel with 32 crew began taking on water in the same general area of the Ross Sea and it took 10 days for the rescues to reach the stranded ship due to ice conditions.   Earlier, in 2010, a Korean fishing vessel sank with a crew of 42 while fishing in the Southern Ocean. Only 20 were rescued in that incident.

An overflight of the Russian fishing vessel Sparta on Dec. 16, 2011. Photo: Maritime New Zealand

An ice-strengthened research vessel has reached the stricken fishing vessel Sparta and her 32 crew after 10 days stuck in Antarctic ice, according to Maritime New Zealand.  The vessel has been stuck since striking ice on December 16, resulting in a 30 cm hole in her hull.

Rescue coordinators at RCCNZ confirmed this morning that the R/V Araon, which has ice breaking capabilities, arrived on scene at the Sparta early on December 26th. By 5 am officials confirmed that the Araon was alongside Sparta and transferring fuel, which is expected to lift the bow of out of the water enough so that the hole can be fixed.

Sparta issued a mayday call at 3am December 16 saying the vessel was taking on water and listing to 13 degrees.  To make problems worse the vessel was about 2,000 nautical miles SE of New Zealand and practically sitting on the Antarctic ice shelf, several days from the closest vessel, not to mention a vessel with icebreaking capabilities.  After ditching cargo and non-essential crew onto the ice, the vessel was stabilized and receiving air drops of supplies – including pumps and patches – from an RNZAF C-130 Hercules aircraft.  Commissioned by Sparta’s owner, the Aaron left New Zealand on December 18th and was expected to take eight days to reach Sparta.

Sparta is now expected to be escorted out of the area under her own power pending successful completion of repairs.  The 32 crew on board are said to be safe.

16 December 2011 – 8AM

A Russian fishing vessel with 32 crew on board has issued a Mayday call from deep in the southern ocean, the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) says.

The 55m vessel, Sparta, is next to the ice shelf of Antarctica, east of the Ross Sea, about 2000 nautical miles (3704 kilometres) south east of New Zealand.

Sparta issued a distress call via Inmarsat-C, a satellite communications system, around 3am, which was picked up by the Norwegian rescue coordination centre and passed on to RCCNZ. Initial efforts to contact Sparta directly were unsuccessful.

Around 4.20am Sparta’s sister ship, Chiyo Maru no. 3, relayed a Mayday call to RCCNZ, and confirmed Sparta was taking on water.

RCCNZ has subsequently spoken directly to crew on board Sparta.

RCCNZ search and rescue mission coordinator Tracy Brickles said the crew was pumping water out, but had offloaded non-essential crew onto the ice as a precautionary measure.

Sparta was reported as being on a 13 degree list, or lean.

Ms Brickles said there were no helicopters which could undertake a rescue in the area and the best current option to assist Sparta was identifying a nearby vessel which could come to its aid.

“We have contacted a number of vessels,” Ms Brickles said.

“However, the closest ones are hampered by heavy ice, making vessel movement very difficult. The closest vessel which can cut through the ice is several days away.”

Chiyo Maru no. 3 is about 290 nautical miles away and would take days to reach Sparta.

An American search and rescue team based at the Antarctic research centre at McMurdo Station was preparing a Hercules aircraft to fly over Sparta and assess the ice conditions. The aircraft was being prepared for flight, and would take off later this morning.

The weather in the area currently is calm and about 3 degrees Centigrade. FULL REPORT

This is quite possiby the worst place on earth for a situation like this to occur, let’s hope rescue crews can reach the vessel soon.  We’ll keep an eye on this story and update as things develop.

UPDATE: Here are the highlights of the RCCNZ update on the situation as of 10am local time.

• Two fishing vessels are making their way towards the stricken Russian boat Sparta, but are not expected to reach the area for four to five days.
• All of the crew, made up of 15 Russians, 16 Indonesians and 1 Ukrainian, are understood to be safe. The crew is pumping water out of the holds and discharging cargo onto the ice to lighten the ship.
• RCCNZ search and rescue mission coordinator Ramon Davis said RCCNZ had contacted a number of vessels operating in the southern ocean, but heavy sea ice was making vessel movement difficult.
• Sparta’s sister ship, Chiyo Maru no. 3, is making its way towards the stricken vessel. However, Chiyo Maru no. 3 is about 290 nautical miles (NM) away and has no ice classification, meaning no capacity to cut or break through sea ice.
• The New Zealand vessel San Aspiring, which has some capacity to move through ice, is also making its way towards Sparta. San Aspiring is currently 470 NM from Sparta and at its current speed is expected to reach the vessel in 4-5 days.
• A third vessel is only 19 NM away, but is hemmed in by heavy ice and unable to proceed towards Sparta.
• “We have confirmed the crew has immersion suits on board and other resources which will assist them to survive if they have to abandon the ship.” [-Ramon Davis of RCCNZ]

I was walking along the seawall at the US Naval Academy last night when I saw the slightly lit shape of a huge sailboat moving silently and easily amongst a flotilla of yachts anchored in Annapolis Harbor.  They didn’t appear to be boats left over from the Annapolis Sailboat Show the week before, their decks were cluttered with gear and didn’t have the shiny look of a new boat.  Annapolis is a popular Fall stopover point for sailors from the Northeast who aim to sail their boats south to the Caribbean for the winter, or to points beyond.

Back in 1998, my parents had been anchored off that very seawall before heading south for Norfolk and the start of the Caribbean 1500, a rather laid back ocean race from the Chesapeake Bay to the Virgin Islands.   The trip south in 1998 however, was by no means laid back.  The remnants of Hurricane Mitch blew across the fleet, and at least one boat was lost.  During the storm, my parents and crew hove-to for the night and made it to the Islands with no issues.  10 years, 50,000 miles, and countless adventures later, Calypso eventually returned to her home waters on east coast of the United States.

Although more than twice as long, and with a more modern design, this dark hull sliding through the water in Annapolis was similar in many ways to Calypso.   From a quarter-mile away it was clear she was built for one purpose, to explore the far corners of our planet via the high seas.

She reminded me of the Seamaster, a boat once sailed by New Zealand explorer and famed ocean yacht racer Sir Peter Blake.  In 2001, while sailing up the Amazon River on an environmental expedition, he was attacked and murdered by robbers.  Peter Blake had been a hero of mine since I was kid.  For someone who had never gone faster than 8 knots on a sailboat, watching him and his crew in the 1989 Whitbread Round-the-World Race blaze through  the Southern Ocean on the 90-foot Steinlager II was nothing short of incredible.

This morning, through my apartment window facing Back Creek, two huge masts came into view and quickly spun around.  This huge, aluminum hulled beast that I had seen last night was stopping by the fuel dock a block away from my door.  Megayachts and shiny raceboats were a pretty familiar sight, and the wow factor has worn off over the years, but this boat was definitely unique.  It had a mostly plumb bow, a bare aluminum hull, and deck hardware that looked like it came off a tugboat.  This boat was built to go places, and I knew I had to go down there to see what the story was behind this yacht with the words PANGAEA painted on her bow.

As I walked up to PANGAEA, I met a number of young adults who spoke heavily accented English and were busy refueling and filling the yacht’s water tanks.  Apparently there was an air bubble somewhere in their fuel system that was turning this rather simple routine into an all-day affair of filling up and emptying out jerry cans.

Unbeknownst to me, the skipper of PANGAEA was directing operations from her beam and he was the first person I met.

“Who is Mike Horn?” I asked him.

The name was in huge letters on the both masts and I figured there had to be a connection…

“That’s me,” he responded.

I had no idea who I had just met, but I soon found out that I was talking to one of the most accomplished explorers on our planet.

Over the course of his life, Mike has racked up more adventures than any 1000 people that I know.  He is the Dos Equis guy, if you had to pick a real-life version.

Mary Buckheit, a former writer for ESPN, who is now Mike Horn’s Communications and Media Relations Director, was there this morning to give me the scoop on this rugged looking, South African-accented, individual whom I had just met.  In an article she wrote for ESPN earlier this year, she described Mike:

Mike Horn horn after solo-traversing the Arctic Ocean via the North Pole. He arrived at a village called Kugaaruk, (otherwise known as Pelly Bay), a small Inuit village situated on the west coast of Simpson Peninsula on the mainland of Canada. Mike progressed at an average of about 15kms a day, battling against temperatures ranging somewhere between -40°C and -60°C

He once walked out the front door of a camp on the equator, and 18 months later, after the circumvolution of the globe at latitude zero on foot, bicycle, canoe and sail, he entered through the back door.

He speaks fluent Afrikaans, English, Spanish, German, French, Russian and Dutch … in a mellifluous Cape Town accent.

When he was 28, he had a huge party to give away his house, his car and all of his belongings before up and moving to a foreign country — sight unseen — on a standby ticket.

His blood smells like cologne.

He walked across Siberia for one and a half years. Alone.

His hands feel like rich, brown suede.

A tow truck once hauled away his illegally parked U-Haul from a Dunkin Donuts. He saw it being yanked from the car park and tore after it on foot. He caught up, scaled the truck’s cab, threw open the door and — amid an extempore scuffle — accidentally broke the driver’s arm. An ambulance and cruisers arrived. Cops seized Horn immediately and threw him against the wall. After only a few minutes of questioning, the sheriff felt inclined to release Horn (and his vehicle) ungrudgingly and citation-free. The squad then provided a police escort through the city to Horn’s awaiting plane for an on-time departure.

Hearing this story, and looking at the boat before me, I knew that I had definitely made the right call by coming down to the fuel dock.  I was crossing paths with a very unique person.  An individual filled with stories only those who live on the bleeding edge of life can truly understand or appreciate.

He should be dead.  I mean, anyone who begins stories with, “when I was walking through the Congo on my way to Somalia” is either lying to you, or the story is just never told because they disappeared along the way, never to be seen again.   The days of exploration are over, this kind of shit just doesn’t happen anymore.

Fortunately for the teenagers on board PANGAEA, there are still real life adventures to be had, and Mike Horn is still alive to lead them.  In fact, PANGAEA had just arrived in Annapolis after completing a traverse of the Northwest Passage from the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, and is on her way to Florida to explore the Everglades before an expedition next year far up the Amazon River.

On board PANGAEA, Mike is leading the Young Explorers Program (YEP), an ongoing sailing expedition around the world that exposes teenagers to real-life, harsh environment adventures, while at the same time giving them a personal view and the ability to act on important environmental issues around our planet.   Since 2008, Mike has taken the Young Explorers on nine expeditions which included notable stops in Monaco, the Arctic and Nunavut Canada, New Zealand, Antarctica, Mongolia, South Africa and Borneo.

Sounds cool right?

Guess what else… it’s completely free for all participants.

This is no vacation however…

If chosen to participate in this program, youngsters can expect long days filled with watch standing, cooking, cleaning, navigating, and learning how to maintain this traveling classroom at sea.  The theme of the YEP is to promote exploration, learning, and to provide teens with the tools necessary for follow-on action.  While part of this program, projects are undertaken within the areas of Ecology and Conservation, Water and Sanitation, or Social Community involvement.

After tens of thousands of ocean miles, very little has been able to slow this boat down, or Mike Horn for that matter.  Fortunately for me however, a pesky air bubble was all it took to keep them in Annapolis for a few extra hours.

PANGAEA has three more expeditions ahead of her before the end of 2012 including stops in the Florida Everglades, the Gulf of Mexico, Patagonia, Brazil, and back to East Africa. Interested 15-20-year-olds may still apply via Mike’s website at www.mikehorn.com.

Aptly named after Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary who famously reached the Geographic North Pole in 1909 and led various research missions to the Arctic, the vessel will be used to deliver fuel to support military operations and research at Thule Air Force Base, Greenland and McMurdo Station, Antarctica,

In July, MLL announced the long-term time charter from the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command.  The charter will begin in November 2011 and consists of a one-year base with four options that could potentially extend the contract to 59 months and a total value of $71.5 million.  Maersk Peary was reflagged into the U.S. registry on September 19, 2011, and American officers and crew will operate the ship.

“The name-giving is a great opportunity to honor our customers and partners; reflect on our company’s commitment to the U.S. flag maritime industry; and celebrate the strengthening of these partnerships,” said John F. Reinhart, President and CEO of Maersk Line, Limited, at the ceremony.

“We chose the name Admiral Peary because he was a Navy man, he was an explorer and he was somebody to be reckoned with,” added Reinhart. “By naming the ice-class tanker after Admiral Peary, we uphold his legacy as a model of courage, determination and integrity.“

Kevin M. Tokarski, Associate Administrator for National Security at the U.S. Maritime Administration, spoke at the ceremony about the vital role that companies like Maersk Line, Limited have in maintaining our national security. “The addition of the Maersk Peary is another example of excellence Maersk Line, Limited provides to the U.S. flag fleet,” said Mr. Tokarski. “Maersk Peary will add 45 jobs and expand the pool of ready and capable U.S. Merchant Mariners.”

Mr. Michael Sacco, President of the Seafarers International Union (SIU), praised Maersk Line, Limited for its continued investment in U.S. flag vessels and the U.S. Merchant Marine. “When the U.S. Military looks at such a ship, it sees capacity to sustain its forces around the world. When members of SIU see this beautiful ship, they see jobs and opportunity,” said Mr. Sacco. “It’s about my three favorite words – jobs, jobs, jobs!”

Maersk Peary embarked on its maiden voyage under the U.S. flag early Saturday morning, and she is expected to arrive at McMurdo Station in January 2012 and then Thule Air Force Base next summer.

The award will add a fourth vessel to MLL’s fleet of modern U.S. flag tankers, and it offers MLL another opportunity to serve a longstanding customer. MLL began supporting MSC in 1983, and since then we have extended our ship management, technical and chartering services across the U.S. government.

“We are pleased that MSC has selected MLL to meet its requirement for an ice strengthened tanker,” said Dave Harriss, director of Ship Management & Chartering. “Our success is derived from a focus on quality, competitive pricing, technical expertise, safety culture, and commitment to exceed customer expectations. MLL’s experience managing and operating over 90 vessels of various types can give MSC confidence in our ability to complete the mission, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to support MSC on this unique service.”

The time charter will begin in November 2011, and it consists of a one-year base with four options. The charter will last 59 months if all options are exercised. The total contract value, including all options and excluding reimbursable expenses, is $71.5 million.

MLL is a leading provider of ship management, marine engineering, and chartering services. As a ship owner, vessel operations and maintenance are core competencies. Our vessel experience includes container ships, tankers, roll-on/rolloff ships, large government supply ships, and various special mission vessels. MLL applies its engineering expertise to improve the lifecycle strategies of marine assets and provide innovative designs for new and repurposed vessels. Our record of success has made MLL the largest U.S. shipping company engaged in international trade and a major charterer and contract operator for the U.S. government.

Source: Maersk Line, Limited