Apart from his love for the sea, Ship Delivery Captain Bart Schulting also has an eye for data. He has worked for TOS since 2005 and brings new built ships, sailing on their own keels, to the end customer or sails existing ships to a new area for work or to their home ports. Over time, TOS changed to a new data system so his 70th delivery anniversary came as a surprise to us.
But Captain Bart kept an old school logbook of his deliveries, all 70 of them!
Read his story here. >>
SHIP DELIVERY CAPTAIN: BART SCHULTING
I started working for TOS in 2005 doing ship deliveries of new ships built by Damen. When the number of voyages started going up, I started keeping a logbook. Over the last 16 years I have delivered 70 ships across the world. That’s quite something! In the last few months I brought three Svitzer tugs from Singapore to Australia. While updating my administration, I saw that an important milestone was looming. The third ship, the Svitzer WILU, makes my record 70 ship deliveries.
SHIP DELIVERY CAPTAIN: BREMEN HUNTER AND MORE
I did a special ship delivery in 2015 with my old study friend Henk Mulder as chief mate. We embarked on a voyage from Panama (Balboa) to Chile (Valdivia) on a tugboat, the Bremen Hunter. We sailed via Honolulu where two barges were waiting for us to tow to the final destination. Right from the start the Bremen Hunter was a dead vessel: no power, crewless at anchor and no flag state. Much work needed to be done. After 25 days of hard work and the necessary audits, we could finally leave. Henk wrote a TOS News (link) about it.😊 The crossings with Damen’s slim axe bow vessels such as the Don Luis and the Ocean Warrior are always special and a different experience to the tugboats. And things sometimes go completely differently than expected. I once spent 10 weeks in Brazil for a dredger. After a lot of delays caused by paperwork and financial troubles, the ship also had to be dry-docked. Because of personal obligations, I was unable to do the voyage and I took a plane home. I was expected in Iceland to do a campaign against whale hunting.
Also captain at Sea Shepherd: Sea Shepherd fights to defend, conserve and protect our oceans. I got involved with Sea Shepherd (link) when I joined the Ocean Warrior as an advisor on her maiden voyage to familiarise the Sea Shepherd crew with their newest vessel. As a mariner, I see how we are destroying the oceans every day, with more and more plastic and less wildlife. >> Click and read his interview
2006: CAPTAIN ON THE LODYCKE
Voyage: Stellendam (the Netherlands) to Lagos (Nigeria)
The Lodycke served as a survey vessel in the waterways of Zeeland, is 23 metres long and not built for the open sea. Nevertheless, our crew was commissioned to take the Lodycke from Stellendam to Lagos in Nigeria!!
In other words, a true TOS job. In Lagos, the Lodycke has a new life as a relief boat for dredging activities.
2009: SHIP DELIVERY CAPTAIN: SVITZER AHVAZ
Voyage: Dubai to Mejillones (Chile)
This is a special delivery as the journey has us sailing three oceans, starting with the Indian Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope to the Atlantic and via the Strait of Magellan into the Pacific Ocean.
Since the opening of the Panama Canal, this is a trade route that is less frequently used.
2021: CAPTAIN SVITZER NORTH, ABROLHOS and WILU
Svitzer Wilu = 70th ship delivery voyage
Voyage: Singapore to Geraldton (Australia)
The first voyage goes really well. It takes a bit to get going though. Given all the Covid regulations, we only had 48 hours to get the ship ready for departure. Normally, it takes about four or five days. Everyone is aware of the tight schedule to get everything we need and provisions on board on time. Svitzer’s first instructions and their preparations are spot on.
