A Russian port recently received some cargo completely covered in ice, delivered on a ship that was also quite chilled.
The Sun Rio Ro-Ro cargo carrier arrived in the eastern Russian port city of Vladivostok on Dec. 27, with much of the ship’s structure and cargo covered in thick ice.
A video shot on Dec. 28 depicts the ice-covered vehicles being lifted off the refrigerated, docked vessel.
The spectacle was enough to draw a crowd to see firsthand the vehicles being hoisted from the Panama-registered ship.
To make matters worse, the vehicles had to be unloaded off the deck by a crane in temperatures of -19°C. Multiple local media outlets reported that some of the cars were encased in ice up to six inches (152.4 mm) thick.
There were also instances cited that the ice was harsh enough to cause windows to crack, resulting in interior damage.
According to shipping union official Petr Osichanskiy, the ice was formed by sizable waves initiated by wicked winds.
Although ice developing on ships isn’t out of the ordinary, the December winds were “much stronger than usual” and “sailors aren’t used to it,” Osichanskiy said.
What causes ice to form on ships is a combination of a humid sea wind and sub-zero air temperatures, which can result in a rise in draught — careening and elevating the chance of a ship’s overturn.