Akademik Cherskiy (ship)
The Akademik Cherskiy (Russian: Академик Черский) is a pipe-layer vessel formerly involved in the construction of the Nord Stream II pipeline in the Baltic Sea.
History
[edit]The construction of the ship had two different phases. The initial works began in 2007 and were done by Jiangsu Hantong Heavy Industries near Shanghai in China.[1] The second phase was completed in 2015 in a shipyard in Singapore[1] on orders of a then unknown company. It was originally christened Jascon 18. Sea Trucks Group (STG), a Dutch-Nigerian joint venture and the Nigerian Walvis International were at times linked to the vessel[2] but these ownerships were not corroborated. In 2016 it was known that the owner of the ship was MRTS, a company linked to Gazprom and completed in Singapore in 2015.[3] MRTS later sold the ship to Gazprom Flot[1] and Russian newspapers appear to confirm that Gazprom has sold the ship since.[4] In December 2019, after the United States threatened to sanction Allseas, the pipe layer involved in the construction in the Nord Stream pipe-line up to this time would not finish its construction and Akademik Cherskiy was taken into consideration to finish the job the pipe layers of Allseas have begun.[5][6] In February 2020, starting in Nachodka in far-east Russia, it began its journey over the Cape of Good Hope to Sassnitz, the Baltic Sea where it arrived in June 2020.[7] In Sassnitz, the vessel underwent an extensive upgrade which would prepare the ship for the works at the Nord Stream II pipe-line.[8] In December 2020, it was announced that the vessel has been deployed to take up the work to complete Nord Stream II[9] where it joined another Russian pipe-layer Fortuna in April.[10]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Will Akademik Chersky rescue Nord Stream 2?". BiznesAlert EN. 2020-02-28. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
- ^ "Deepwater Construction Vessel Arrested in Singapore". The Maritime Executive. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
- ^ "Hot Issue - They're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat: The Curious Voyage of the Akademik Cherskiy". Jamestown. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
- ^ Zakarsky, Zacharias (11 August 2020). "Der Bürgermeister und das Geisterschiff". Die Zeit. Archived from the original on 2021-03-10. Retrieved 2021-07-20.
- ^ "Nord Stream 2: Russland will Pipeline selbst fertigstellen". BR24 (in German). 2019-12-26. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
- ^ Ziegele, Marvin (2019-12-27). "Russland sagt Fertigstellung von Nord Stream 2 bis Ende 2020 zu". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). Retrieved 2020-12-13.
- ^ Beutelsbacher, Stefan (2020-06-19). "Nord Stream 2: Amerikas wachsende Wut auf das abtrünnige Europa". Die Welt. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
- ^ "Can the Vessel Akademik Cherskiy Finish Nord Stream Two Pipeline Construction?". Jamestown. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
- ^ "Nord Stream 2: Akademik Tscherski am Einsatzort angekommen – russland.CAPITAL" (in German). Retrieved 2020-12-12.
- ^ "Nord Stream 2 verlegt nun mit zwei Schiffen". Norddeutscher Rundfunk (in German). 27 April 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-04-27. Retrieved 2021-07-20.