BCL helps maritime and scientific community

What makes a shipping company more than just a shipping company?

One that has contributed to both the scientific community and safety at sea.

Bermuda Container Line (BCL), which manages the container vessel MV Oleander, has been shipping items back and forth from Bermuda for over 30 years.

During that time they’ve done more than just ensure that goods of all varieties arrive in Bermuda safely and on time.

From refrigerated containers to flat racks and the company’s roll on/roll off (RoRo) shipping service, which has increased the safety of transporting goods, the 389ft cargo ship has logged over 1,500 trans-Atlantic crossings.

Cargo

The ship is designed to carry wheeled cargo and has transported heavy equipment such as dump trucks, forklifts, harvesters and drilling machines.

“We’ve brought in all sorts of things such as the large tower cranes that can fit into our open top containers and just be lifted right out from the container. We’ve also brought in barges and the Belco generators in the past,” explains Howard Pitcher, vice president of commercial operations at BCL. In the back of the boat we have a special garage where our roll on/roll off ramp is located and stays protected. This keeps the cars we bring in protected,” he adds.

The ship is able to carry 44 cars in the enclosed garage area. And the container capacity can hold up to 362 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEU).

The service has been particularly helpful for those in the construction industry.

“We are able to pack a lot of oddball things into the containers,” Mr Pitcher says.

“A lot of the construction trucks that you see on the Island we have brought in. We also bring in boats on either trailers or cradles.”

But some of the work that may go unnoticed has been helping out the scientific and maritime community for over 20 years.

“The ship is equipped with an acoustic Doppler current profiler and the information that is collected about the strength of the Gulf Stream current is recorded and sent back to the University of Rhode Island,” says Mr Pitcher. “The Doppler can reach depths of about 100ft so a lot of data can be collected.”

The measurements are taken in four regions of the ship’s path between New Jersey and Bermuda including the continental shelf, the Slope Sea, the Gulf Stream and the northwestern Sargasso Sea.

The information is used by researchers to conduct measurements over a long period of time to track near surface heat-fluxes.

Scientific Community

The ship is also equipped with the ability to do plankton tows and the team has also worked with the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) to measure the carbon dioxide levels in the ocean.

The shipping company is also a member of AMVER – the Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue System – that allows the Oleander to be tracked in the case of an ocean emergency.

“The computer-based voluntary global ship reporting system can track the Oleander and if the ship is located close to a distress call we can make our way to the vessel,” says Mr Pitcher.

“We’ve rescued sailors – I think most recently we made an ocean rescue in a few years ago. We help out where we can.”

Other programmes that have been successful to growing the company include working with the National Training Board and Department of Marine and Ports pilot cadets to allow them sea time on the Oleander.

Stevedores have also had the chance to spend time on the Oleander and have seen what the docks are like on the other end.

“Stevedores can see how big a part of what we are involved in,” says Mr Pitcher.

While the ship looks huge to Bermuda standards, the Oleander is small in comparison to ships that are over 1,000ft in length and can carry upwards of 15,000 TEU.

But whether small in comparison, the shipping company is doing big things for Bermuda, ensuring that shipping needs are met at reasonable prices and quality service.