MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/. The Russian vessel Vasily Golovnin has delivered cargo to Bharati, India’s first Antarctic research station, the vessel’s owner, Russian logistics company Fesco, said.

"The Vasily Golovnin diesel electric ship of the Fesco transport group has delivered cargo for the Indian research station Bharati. This is the first station of the Antarctic expedition of 2023-2024, which Fesco is carrying out for the Indian Ministry of Earth Sciences’ National Center for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR)," the shipping company said.

The ship sailed from Cape Town in late December. On January 17, the diesel electric vessel delivered vital goods, foodstuffs, fuel and a new shift of Indian polar explorers to the Bharati station. Equipment and provisions will be unloaded from the vessel using two helicopters, which are also employed in ice air reconnaissance on the route, the company said.

Fesco mariners will take Indian researchers who are ending their shifts at Bharati as return passengers and will transport domestic and technical garbage accumulated at the station over the past year for proper disposal.

"The diesel electric ship will spend about a fortnight there. Then the Vasily Golovnin will make a trip to the second point of the expedition - the Indian station Maitri. According to the assessment of our specialists, weather conditions are more favorable this year; the ice fringe around the mainland is collapsing much more actively than in the last year," director of Fesco’s Vladivostok branch office, Nikolay Chvertko, said. The ship is scheduled to depart for the Maitri research station in late January. The voyage is estimated to last until mid-March 2024, the company noted.

This voyage is the third within the framework of a new five-year contract between Fesco and the NCPOR.