The Summer Trip on the Pacific Endeavour in Russia

he Kholmsk Supply Base

A Harbour tug in the port of Kholmsk
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2006

By Ieuan Dolby

Kholmsk Supply Base (KSB) is the main port in Sakhalin for feeding the oil rigs and production platforms further north. It is on an average day full of offshore supply boats and anchor handlers either loading or discharging their cargo, it has cement tanks ready to pump cement to the vessels, and it has warehouses, storage areas, and all sorts of things that one would associate with on offshore supply base anywhere else in the world.

The rusting fishing trawler in Kholmsk
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2006

There are certain features of the port that removes it from the club. One of these is the large fishing boat, a factory ship that is berthed on the opposite wharf! I went around to have a look the other day and this relic of a bygone era is not going to go anywhere fast. The story has it that a group of entrepreneurs got together and invested in this vessel but sadly the project failed and before long, they all went bankrupt. Before the hammer came down, they had managed to transfer ownership of the vessel to an old woman; she reportedly knows nothing about ships or the sea. Now, the case is in limbo! The port has arrested the vessel in the hope of selling the only asset they can get hold of to cover harbor dues owed to them but some clause in Russian law prevents them doing this easily. In fact, the case has been so drawn out that to dispose of the vessel now would cost them more than they would get for the sale price, if anybody even wanted to buy a twenty-year-old lump of rust, and so she sits there forlorn and unwanted!

A view out to sea - the anchorage at Kholmsk
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2006

The port is certainly developing at a rapid pace. As the oil-industry booms up north, the need for new ships and cargoes to maintain the supply lines is increasing every day. Swires Pacific are moving in their three new Ice-Breaking Anchor Handlers, another company called Frescos have brought in their first new boat and Smits have their ever faithful Ice-breakers and a few others working in and out with regular frequency. The major cargo berth, the one that is not occupied by the rusting factory trawler is always in demand; ships at anchor wait impatiently to get alongside and for a berth to be free. As time jogs along the port might be forced to remove the factory trawler despite the cost of doing so but for now she sits neglected and unwanted, a silent memory of what once was!

Black smoke belching from one of the old workhorses
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2006

The remnants of times gone by are all around despite the modern vessels that keep on appearing over the horizon. Black smoke belching harbor tugs strain daily to maneuver their large and modern counterparts on and off the wharf, they seem to groan and grumble over the increasingly larger tonnage that they have to deal with yet they continue to do the work. The older supply vessels that would not pass muster anywhere else in the world continue to work in and out (when their engines do not fail on them), and a whole army of launches and runarounds keep the port together and in operation.

A Harbour tug in Kholmsk
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2006

Whilst vessels like the Swire boats, straight from the new buildings yards, scream of ultra-modernism, down below and close to the water are the Russian manned and operated vessels whose safety records will leave a lot to be desired. Planned maintenance programs will be "when it fails fix it', the running safety mantra will be "we have always done it this way".

Close up view of the factory trawler in Kholmsk Port
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2006

As the port struggles to keep up with its increased workload, the old communist style buildings are being torn down by gangs of bare-chested men and machines that are too old for the job. New and ever larger cranes are being wheeled in to cope with the demand made upon them and the old ones are thrown in a corner until somebody can work out what to with them. The place resembles a large and bustling center of activity yet should the thin veil be drawn aside a whole landscape of years of neglect, current abuse and uncaring hits one straight in the eye! The dock opposite, which might just be keeping the trawler from going under, is itself in very poor shape! Potholes, crumbled sections and large and twisted bits of reinforcement bars jut out threateningly as I pick my way along. The rail tracks that can hardly be seen for the weeds above seem to have glued themselves to the wheels of the cranes that will never move now and the buildings around are all shuttered-up and empty. I am alone as I walk along this little used wharf, nobody in there right mind would want to be here and to me the place looks like it has been bombed, a victim of a nuclear holocaust or a recent earthquake!

At the end of the wharf is the port entrance, a once well-designed breakwater to prevent the waves from rocking the boats inside. I cannot see half of the breakwater though; it has long since crumbled beneath the surface to be seen no more! The only use this breakwater has now is as a resting place for the occasional seagull and a play yard for the many youths who seem to regard the harbor as their local swimming pool.

During the summer months (from May to October), many exploration rigs are towed north to drill and hopefully find new pockets of oil. During these months, the port is at a premium but this activity will reduce as the rigs and the boats that go with them have to depart for warmer waters. The port itself never freezes over, it is too far south for that, but up North where the major oil finds are located the ice will prevent these short-term rigs from operating. The Kholmsk supply base will therefore find reduced activity during the upcoming winter as the rigs depart for warmer climates. Left behind will be the icebreakers of Swires, of Smits and the newly built boats of Frescos to name but a few and of course over in the corner will be the rusting hulk of the fishing trawler, she isn't going anywhere!

As the sunsets over the old fishing trawler the port goes quiet, the workers go home and the boats settle in for the night. In dribs and drabs the Russian crews, those who are free to go ashore will meander up the wharf and out of the gate, a home and a wife to go to or a drink to be drunk. In the morning as the sun comes up over the hills behind Kholmsk a new day dawns, one boat will leave on a voyage to the colder north to be replaced by one who will appreciate the welcome warmth.

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