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Blog Tundra Stories: Freight
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
The AWI research group. Photo: AWIAfter the last blog from Moritz on what we have been building here, of course, the question arises: how did all the equipment get delivered to the island and why did the cargo arrive only after the expedition team was already there?
The truth is that travelling for two months to Siberia in order to measure something as simple as what Moritz described in his blog, needs a lot of preparation.
The planning for our expedition this summer actually began immediately after the end of the expedition last year. No later than the winter before the expedition details have already been determined: Which people are traveling, what equipment and materials will be purchased and taken to the island? In addition of thinking about the plans and tariff provisions for the equipment to Russia, we also needed to finalize the formalities of obtaining visas for members of the expedition. These are complex processes for which you must allow yourself ample time.
As of early April, you could be hearing questions like "When do you need the big scale? And where there are the empty aluminum boxes?" in the corridors of the AWI. The cargo had at that time already been packed and ready to be sent for the expedition - three months before the actual departure. While packing the boxes, we had to consider several things. For one, the boxes should of course be so packed that all we need is stored appropriately. On the other hand, it was important to remember that we would have to be able to load the boxes ourselves in the near future. With a box, both the cabinets and the major aluminum plates, even the strongest man would get very quickly out of power. It was all pretty exciting, among other reasons because we received the last shipment of measurement sensors in the afternoon, at which the cargo had to be actually handed over completely finished.
The complete cargo transfer looks like this: First, collecting all pieces of cargo from all groups participating in the AWI trip to Bremerhaven harbor warehouse. That is, we accompanied the cargo to Bremerhaven, which was prepared there for transport. The handover in Bremerhaven offers the advantage of being able to handle a large part of the customs formalities already there.
Alone, our group ended up at the end with about half a ton of stuff - all packed in sturdy aluminum cases or large cardboard boxes.
Overall, therefore, piled up for the whole expedition, several tons of cargo was sent on a long journey to the Lena Delta. From Bremerhaven, it first went to the Russian Arctic and Antarctic Research (AARI) in St. Petersburg and from there to the Siberian north coast.
As mentioned in the beginning, the journey for the cargo was so long that it arrived only few days after our arrival in Tiksi, where we then loaded our boxes from both Germany and the crates of Russian scientists in to a helicopter, and headed off to the Samoylov Island together - as a team and with our luggage.
Best,
Max
______________________________________
Main page of the English translation of the blog "Tundra Stories": http://page21.org/blogs/59-samoylov
Original blog in German: http://www.awi.de/de/go/Tundra-Stories
The AWI research group. Photo: AWIAfter the last blog from Moritz on what we have been building here, of course, the question arises: how did all the equipment get delivered to the island and why did the cargo arrive only after the expedition team was already there?The truth is that travelling for two months to Siberia in order to measure something as simple as what Moritz described in his blog, needs a lot of preparation.
The planning for our expedition this summer actually began immediately after the end of the expedition last year. No later than the winter before the expedition details have already been determined: Which people are traveling, what equipment and materials will be purchased and taken to the island? In addition of thinking about the plans and tariff provisions for the equipment to Russia, we also needed to finalize the formalities of obtaining visas for members of the expedition. These are complex processes for which you must allow yourself ample time.
As of early April, you could be hearing questions like "When do you need the big scale? And where there are the empty aluminum boxes?" in the corridors of the AWI. The cargo had at that time already been packed and ready to be sent for the expedition - three months before the actual departure. While packing the boxes, we had to consider several things. For one, the boxes should of course be so packed that all we need is stored appropriately. On the other hand, it was important to remember that we would have to be able to load the boxes ourselves in the near future. With a box, both the cabinets and the major aluminum plates, even the strongest man would get very quickly out of power. It was all pretty exciting, among other reasons because we received the last shipment of measurement sensors in the afternoon, at which the cargo had to be actually handed over completely finished.
The complete cargo transfer looks like this: First, collecting all pieces of cargo from all groups participating in the AWI trip to Bremerhaven harbor warehouse. That is, we accompanied the cargo to Bremerhaven, which was prepared there for transport. The handover in Bremerhaven offers the advantage of being able to handle a large part of the customs formalities already there.
Alone, our group ended up at the end with about half a ton of stuff - all packed in sturdy aluminum cases or large cardboard boxes.
Overall, therefore, piled up for the whole expedition, several tons of cargo was sent on a long journey to the Lena Delta. From Bremerhaven, it first went to the Russian Arctic and Antarctic Research (AARI) in St. Petersburg and from there to the Siberian north coast.
As mentioned in the beginning, the journey for the cargo was so long that it arrived only few days after our arrival in Tiksi, where we then loaded our boxes from both Germany and the crates of Russian scientists in to a helicopter, and headed off to the Samoylov Island together - as a team and with our luggage.
Best,
Max
______________________________________
Main page of the English translation of the blog "Tundra Stories": http://page21.org/blogs/59-samoylov
Original blog in German: http://www.awi.de/de/go/Tundra-Stories