Ice / Support

GC Rieber Shipping has a long history in the expedition market, and over the years has held contracts with organisations representing almost all the major nations that are active in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Our own-design vessels such as the “Polarbjørn”, the “Polar Duke” and “Ernest Shackleton” have literally carved their names into the ice, and are well known amongst expeditioners all over the world.

Our polar expedition vessels are developed to combine the ice-going markets with that of the more commercial offshore subsea and survey markets.  Our commercial proposals for the ice-going markets are often more flexible and competitive, since our vessels are trading all year round.

With our experience in operations of this kind, we are able to offer clients lumpsum prices against defined workscopes -  also for forward seasons, thus mitigating  budgetary uncertainties.  Besides offering ship services, we are also able to include other services such as helicopters, snow mobiles, and containers.

The group owns and operates two vessels within ice/support as well as two crew boats. The ”Ernest Shackleton” is on a bareboat charter to the British Antarctic Survey until 2014, for operations in Antarctica . The ”Polar Pevek” and the crew boats ”Polar Piltun” and ”Polar Baikal” are owned through a 50/50 joint venture with Primorsk Shipping Corporation, and are operated by the group’s ship management company in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The ”Polar Pevek” is chartered to Exxon Neftegas until 2021 and operates out of the DeKastri oil terminal, assisting tankers carrying oil from the Sakhalin I offshore field outside eastern Russia . The two crew boats are chartered to the Sakhalin Energy Investment Corporation until 2013 and are employed in the Sakhalin II field.