Beluga Shipping

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Delivering future-oriented prospects for the maritime industry in Germany, Beluga Shipping Gmbh, has come a long way since it was founded in 1995 by President and CEO Niels Stolberg. Famously adept at shifting those bulky, sensitive or unusual cargo hauls which prove the most trying to deal with, the company began as what was essentially a cargo operator, servicing everything from the wind industry to oil and gas, to construction.

Today, the central company aim “to fulfil the demands of our customers in a creative, flexible and accurate manner to their complete satisfaction,” is reflected in every single solitary project, vessel, service and support mechanism offered to the company’s vast and varied clients.

IRJ spoke with this future-focused maritime frontrunner about its humble beginnings, growth and adaptation to industry shifts, and what the future holds for Beluga.

IRJ: Let’s talk about the Beluga Shipping company culture. How has this grown and shaped the company since its inception and how does this reflect on your work today?

Stolberg: Pioneering spirit and the aspiration to constantly tread new paths and pursue them consistently to the end characterises Beluga Shipping GmbH. We want to uphold and even expand our role as world market leader in project and heavy lift cargo shipping. This corporate philosophy has shaped Beluga’s history.

The basis of success is a value-oriented corporate culture with four continuously improved company strengths: pronounced proximity to customers, a competent staff, constant innovation as well as precisely tailored transport solutions in the project and heavy-lift cargo segment.

The niche market of project and heavy-lift cargo requires special skills, technical know-how and a thorough qualification. In comparison to the standardised container business every order is a challenging project here. Whether lifting the cargo with the shipboard crane gear, placing the freight on deck or in the holds, or securing the cargo: everything is calculated in detail beforehand and by engineering experts in their field.

IRJ: So you have the will and experience to deliver on all manner of projects, but what about your peers? What’s the competitive landscape of the heavy-lift cargo industry like nowadays?

Stolberg: In the project and heavy lift segment you have to deal with complex and highly valuable cargo. Confidence, trustfulness and good experiences due to successful projects in the past count. The price question does not come first and does not mark the only criteria. Professionalism and reliability are much more important. After all, to transport the project cargo you need certain vessels.

The Beluga fleet consists of different vessel classes that are specially designed to meet the market requirements. This philosophy is actively put into practice by designing new ship generations in the new building department, and implementing sustainable research results that the in-house experts generate for research and innovation. The shipboard crane capacities of Beluga’s class ships are currently maximum 800 tonnes in tandem operation. In conjunction with the technical know-how of Beluga’s specialists the special ships offer a whole range of options for project implementation independent of the local port infrastructure. Thanks to tramp shipping traffic, customers profit from a fleet that can be flexibly assigned to individual routes, some of which are off the common trade routes, such as the Northeast Passage. The sector of 800 tonnes and above is a highly specialised market which is hard to enter for “newcomers”.

IRJ: So that must leave you in quite an enviable position, having amassed the expertise, reputation and track record, with little new competition on the horizon. What comes next? Would you look to expand your geographical stretch of clients, add news sectors, or any other growth prospects?

Stolberg: Through the joint venture Beluga Projects Agency (flexible scheduled services from Europe to fixed regions of destination with loading and discharge ports along the respective routes), and Beluga Hochtief Offshore (construction and deployment of jack-up vessels for transporting, setting up and maintaining offshore wind mills generating more than 5 megawatts each), the Bremen-based company creates new fields of competence and promising prospects of profiting from future demand for special tonnage on a long-term basis. The experts needed on board will continue to be recruited from the in-house Beluga Sea Academy, and from now on, will be trained to meet the highest requirements on the Maritime Campus in Elsfleth at a maritime safety training centre co-financed by Beluga Shipping, and offered an innovative indoor training facility with swimming pool and a unique Offshore & Heavy-Lift Crane Operation Simulator. In future, the company will also meet its social responsibility by promoting and supporting numerous projects in the social services, education, culture and sports sectors in its customary reliable manner.

IRJ: Let’s look more closely at the technical development side of the Beluga fleet. What kind of vessels and equipment does it take to stay ahead of the game in such a specialised part of the cargo industry?

Stolberg: Beluga provides a young, modern and flexible fleet divided into three types, so the transport specialist can always offer the client a perfectly suited vessel: Beluga Shipping has launched the very first Beluga multipurpose project carriers of the latest generation, which proved her capabilities by the transport of several large reactors during her maiden voyage. Shortly after the delivery from the equipping shipyard in Shanghai, MV “Beluga Houston” headed for the port of Yokohama, Japan. There the special vessel loaded two reactors destined for Aratu in Brazil, each of them weighing 485 tonnes and measuring 21 metres in length. In the next port of loading Pyeong Taek, South Korea, another three reactors measuring 70 metres in length and weighing 300 tonnes each were loaded. In the Chinese port of Mailiao further two heavy-lift modules completed the cargo, both about 250 tonnes heavy and more than 40 metres long. The maiden voyage of MV “Beluga Houston” illustrates the kind of transport projects which will be performed with the P-type vessels in future.
MV “Beluga Houston” was delivered as first of the all in all 16 new flag ships of Beluga Shipping with 800 to 1400 tonnes crane capacities, a deadweight capacity of 20,000 tonnes and an ice classification of Finnish-Swedish 1 A (German E3), combined with a moderate fuel consumption. The cranes are not only quicker and stronger, they are also equipped with additional a loading tackle for smaller cargoes. Thereby, two crane operators are working synchronously, thus guaranteeing that the valuable cargo is loaded safely and successfully aboard.

The newly constructed vessels of the P-Class are also equipped for voyages through polar latitudes and can thus traverse the route of the Northeast Passage along the Siberian coast, which abbreviates the sea transit from Europe towards Asia by approximately one third. As a result, not only daily expenses and fuel consumption costs are reduced, but an active contribution is made to improving environmental protection, given that the reduced usage of bunker causes the production of less climate-damaging emissions.

IRJ: If you were to define your market edge, why would you say clients keep coming back to Beluga shipping?

Stolberg: The most obvious trend in project and super heavy lift cargo shipping simply is that everything is getting bigger, heavier and more complex. Today voluminous modules and complete plant sections are transported pre-mounted instead of several single parts on various vessels. From the client’s perspective, this procedure saves time for assembling at the target location and in turn means that the shipped components are able to run once they reach their destination. This trend is what we answer with our Beluga P-series newbuildings, not least due to the fact that the bigger and heavier the cargo the more stable and attractive, of course, the freight rates are – and the market segment exceeding the 800 tonnes limit is in fact offering many challenging as well as attractive projects related to core business areas such as oil and gas, power and energy, infrastructure, mining, wind energy and offshore projects.
At Beluga, creativity is required and actively encouraged, for example, in order to appropriately respond now to contemporary global challenges, such as the impact of climate change and the scarcity of fossil fuels, with sustainable, future-oriented measures. Beluga Shipping is already underway along this path - with the MS “Beluga SkySails”, the world’s first new built vessel with a revolutionary towing kite propulsion system measuring 320 square meters; with the transit of the Northern Sea Route via the Arctic Ocean, thus enabling a considerable reduction in fuel consumption as compared to the Southern Route through the Suez Canal; and with the utilization of friction-reducing ship coatings, notably in “Hai-Tech”, an intensive, high-technology research project aimed at duplicating the aerodynamic advantages of shark skin.

IRJ: What’s next for Beluga? What are the company’s strategic goals for 2010 and beyond?

Stolberg: The segment of 600 to 1000 tonnes remains relatively stable and the sector of 1000 to 1400 tonnes in particular is a niche of greatest interest for Beluga Shipping since it is very attractive and shapes a growing market worldwide with numerous lucrative transportation challenges ahead. The oil and gas sector as well as the energy sector in particular are creating some of these (super) heavy lift sectors in which the according companies do further invest strongly since they are well positioned financially despite the global meltdown. The niche market project and heavy lift, especially the super heavy lift segment as niche in the niche, does not suffer the same negative effects from the crisis since it is mainly based upon investments and the development of infrastructure. These represent market segments where there are still funds available to finance such projects and where there are super heavy lift modules to be shipped efficiently across the oceans which only experienced and highly qualified transportation specialists such as Beluga Shipping can perform in a professional manner.
Beluga Shipping GmbH has been increasingly active within the sector involving the transport of offshore wind power plants since 2000. The offshore wind industry in particular is regarded as a future-oriented, attractive operational field, explaining why the department “Business Development Offshore Wind” was established in 2008.

For Beluga Hochtief Offshore, new special vessels will be developed and built as series type that enable the installation and maintenance of offshore facilities with overall heights of more than 120 meters in water depths of up to 50 meters. Beluga Hochtief Offshore offers performance by power and mobility: 8,000 tonnes loading capacity, 1,500 tonnes crane capacity, 12 knots service speed – these special lifting vessels can be operated flexibly and around the clock on every single day of the year. The offshore market is booming, whereas capacities and adequate tonnage are insufficient. Beluga Hochtief Offshore delivers the answer: The first all-round vessel of the next generation will be launched in 2012. The new special ships of Beluga Hochtief Offshore fill a gap in a market that will soon be booming, a market, which would otherwise be threatened by limitations of capacity.

In what is clearly a highly specialised, historical and demanding part of the cargo industry, Beluga Shipping has used its expertise, strategic partnerships and long-standing client future focus to become what is undoubtedly one of the most diverse and forward-thinking companies in the sector. Stolberg created Beluga with a crystal clear vision of what the industry needed and would need in the future. That vision has not faltered, but instead played out to create the company we know today, famed for its future-oriented prospects and project excellence.

www.beluga-group.com