The DNV-classed M/S Berge Nord was built at the HHI yard in Korea. The ship makes 15 round trips each year from Rotterdam to Canada to load the ship to capacity with iron ore. The ship has seven cargo holds. In Rotterdam it takes about three days to discharge this cargo. We met M/S Berge Nord at the Ertsoverslagbedrijf Europoort, a terminal that is fully owned by ThyssenKrupp of Germany in the Port of Rotterdam.

“Riding the North Atlantic is certainly not always smooth sailing,” admits Captain Ainsley Allen Athaide. “Going from Rotterdam to Canada requires skill and knowledge of the weather. In our trade, we always travel to Canada in ballast condition and are fully loaded on the voyage to Europe. We have to exchange our ballast on the passage. We have to keep a keen eye on weather conditions, icebergs, ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and icing on deck machinery and hatch covers caused by sea spray.”
From November to the end of February, the conditions can be particularly challenging. The ship’s draft in ballast is about 13 metres going from Rotterdam to Canada. However, the top of the propeller is about nine metres; the waves are sometimes 10–12 metres high.
M/S Berge Nord has a very powerful engine of some 19,670 kW, which is significantly stronger than most ore carriers of this size.
Says Athaide, “Normally, M/S Berge Nord sails west from Rotterdam through the English Channel before crossing the Atlantic and entering Canada through the Straits of Belle Isle, North of Newfoundland and into the Gulf of St Lawrence.
We sail south of Newfoundland, via Cabot straits, during winter months when the northern route is unsafe for navigation due to ice conditions. The vessel loads at Sept Iles and Port Cartier for shipping to Rotterdam.”
The cargo is discharged using three huge cranes which lift approximately
30 tons of iron ore per scoop. Occasionally an additional floating crane is used. The 4th crane at EECV is only for discharging coal.

Date: 08 February 2008