Shipping Lines - Ships keep arriving from shipyards old and new

The Romanian-built Siem Barracuda IRM vessel departs Montrose.

Despite the lack of general purpose cargo ships, short sea traders and coasters there was sufficient interest in the few that did appear recently at Montrose, writes John Aitken.

In addition, there was plenty of activity with the offshore support vessels involved in the oil and gas plus the renewable wind generation sector.

Firstly, there was the arrival of the Dutch-built Triton sailing under the flag of Gibraltar. Of a modern design conceived by her builders, she is 90 metres in length and 4,700-ton deadweight being completed in 2015.

A product of the long-established Royal Bodewes shipbuilding company based at Hoogezand, which has been building ships in The Netherlands since 1812. In the present era prefabricated building blocks are transported from an undercover building hall, lined up and welded together into a complete ship.

After applying the finishing touches including external painting, she is ready for the christening ceremony when an excited crowd of shipyard, owners and other invited guests eagerly anticipate the impressive spectacle of a ship sliding the short distance down the transverse slipway into the adjacent river or canal.

Outfitting follows internal carpentry work and final painting completes the vessel which is then towed to either Eemshaven or Delfzijl to undertake sea trials. Subsequent successful owner’s trials are followed by the handing over of the newbuild and the shipyard is ready to begin its next order which is already often started in the onshore fabrication hall of the shipbuilders.

It was a far cry to the next ship’s builders, that of Qindao Huyundai in the Far East. the 5,257-ton deadweight, 117-metre long, dark green-hulled Seeland built in 2006 and flying the state flag of Portugal being homeported in Madeira. She loaded a hefty cargo of softwood logs which reportedly were destined for the former major East German port of Rostock after being temporarily anchored off Gothenburg, presumably awaiting orders as to her final destination.

Her builders were established in 2004 at Qingdao in China to construct small to medium-sized cargo vessels while building on the experience of Hyundai. The shipyard has grown steadily into a strong competitor in the global small to medium-size shipbuilding market.

Wilson Saar made a brief appearance and was a typical low air draft “bridge dodger” having been constructed for the river and canal trades of central Europe. With a length of 76 metres, a beam of 10 metres, being built in 1996 and therefore highly suitable for relatively narrow river and canal trades and connecting inland waterways. She sails under the flag of Barbados and is registered at Bridgetown. Built by the Shipyard Chvaletice part of the BGM group and situated on the right bank of the River Elbe (Labe).

Other recent arrivals have included Merit, Gibraltar-registered and the long-running Ahlmark Line-chartered Aspen. Both ships were built in the same Romanian shipyard. Originally Daewoo Mangalia, a joint venture started in 1997, but now part of the Dutch-owned Damen conglomerate.