July 2019
Bahrain. End July... Humidity: 89%. Temperature: the island’s third hottest on record since 1902…
Perfect timing for a little cruise…🚢🏖👙 So off we go – Louise, Summer, Khaled, François – five days and nights onboard the Alfred Oldendorff, a 94,000 ton, 235m long transloader headed into international waters in the Arabian Gulf. The task: to document – for Bahrain Steel – the transloading in open seas of nearly 100,000 tons of iron-ore from an even larger ship arriving from Brazil.
This is our second such trip. We’d done a similar one eight months earlier. But it was WINTER then!!!! And needless to say, this is not a top-ten summer holiday destination choice!
OK, so sure, it was baking hot and horrendously humid (you can say that again!!! 🥵), tough and exhausting. Sure, we had to be ready on hand anytime a notable maneuver would take place, whether at 2am, 4am or in the midday blazing heat. But hey, both the Bahrain Steel team and the Alfred Oldendorff crew were absolutely amazing, and the experience definitely unforgettable! And the skill, precision and scale of the endeavour – carried out for Bahrain Steel over 80 times a year by the Oldendorff transloaders – absolutely mind blowing! Hats off to both companies!! And thanks (I guess 😊) – to Bahrain Steel, Foulath and Oldendorff – for the memorable assignment and exemplary care, planning and organization!