The Antarctic Department of Australian Ministry of Environment came out as the vessel charterer.
Ministry of Environment of Australia and PLC FESCO signed the Charter of the vessel’s work in June 2003 for 3 years in the option of the charterer. During the first period of its work the vessel «Vasiliy Golovnin» showed high results both in speed and cargo delivery terms and also in transportation reliability in this difficult for navigation area of the World Ocean.
Far Eastern shipping company has great experience of work out of the polar circle, in the Eastern sector of Arctic, in Antarctica. For more than 50 years of work on the polar stations crews of FESCO ships carried out such works as loading and unloading cargo on the ice and unequipped shore, which were sometimes unique operations. Nowadays FESCO is the main Russian cargo carrier on the line of the «North delivery», carrying out the majority of cargo delivery to the areas with limited navigation time.
By the program of the 1st Antarctic expedition during the period from December 2003 till February 2004 «Vasiliy Golovnin» had been connecting ports Hobart, Casey, Davis, Mawson (Australia) and polar Antarctic stations.
Now the vessel has departed to the 2nd Antarctic passage, where it will deliver cargoes of different types in accordance with the coordinated schedule. Also in winter time of 2005–2006 the 3rd successful Antarctic navigation by FESCO vessels is planned.