New contracts increase NORDEN's long-term coverage in Dry Cargo

11 May 2010

2 of NORDEN's owned Panamax vessels will be sailing for the next 10 years for leading aluminum company, Rio Tinto Alcan. The vessels will predominantly be transporting bauxite to the St. Lawrence and Saguenay Rivers in Eastern Canada where ice classed vessels are the only option during the wintertime.

In a very short time, NORDEN's Panamax vessel NORDPOL will be docked and rebuilt to be able to enter the icy waters of the St Lawrence and Saguenay Rivers. During winter, which lasts from December through April, the ice is often more than one meter thick, and is comprised to a large extent of fresh water ice, which is particularly dense. This ice makes the area inaccessible for vessels without ice class.

NORPOL is to be ready and ice classed in the fourth quarter of this year, when the vessel is to sail for Rio Tinto Alcan until 2020. NORDEN will have 2 ice classed Panamax vessels, NORDPOL and NORDKAP, chartered out to Rio Tinto Alcan for 10 years each. NORDKAP, which was rebuilt to sail ice in 2006, has been sailing for Rio Tinto Alcan since then during wintertime. This contract has now been expanded to include sailing during the summer. NORDKAP will be 100% chartered out to the company until 2020 as well.

"We are happy to be able to strengthen our relations with Rio Tinto Alcan and see this as a good example of the strong and solid partnerships we aim to build with our customers. This time we have additionally managed to find a solution where we are rebuilding our vessels to meet the special needs of the company," says Peter Norborg, Senior Vice President in NORDEN's Dry Cargo Department.

NORDEN