Japan: NYK Takes Delivery of Taharoa Destiny

On May 11th, Taharoa Destiny, a new 175,000 DWT class vessel dedicated to the transport of ironsand slurry,* was delivered to NYK. The ship was built at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.’s (MHI) Nagasaki Shipyard and Machinery Works.

At the naming ceremony held on May 9, BlueScope Steel Minerals president Christopher Fogarty and his wife, BlueScope Steel Minerals vice-president Derek Charge and his wife, MHI president Hideaki Omiya and his wife, NYK president Yasumi Kudo, and NYK corporate officer Kazuo Ogasawara joined a number of others in attendance to celebrate the maiden voyage of the vessel to Taharoa, New Zealand.

The vessel will be chartered to New Zealand Steel Mining Ltd. under a long-term contract and is expected to transport 1.2 million tons of ironsand slurry annually from New Zealand to China and Japan for 15 years. New Zealand Steel Mining Ltd. is a subsidiary of New Zealand Steel, which became a part of the BlueScope Steel Group in 2002.

NYK continues its efforts to provide stable transportation for natural resources.

Vessel particulars

Length Overall: 290.40 m

Breadth: 45.00 m

Designed Draft: 18.20 m

Gross Tonnage: 90,267 t

Deadweight Tonnage: 175,522 t

Builder: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.

* Vessel dedicated to the transport of ironsand slurry

A pipeline from shore is used to load this vessel by pumping the ironsand slurry into the vessel cargo holds. After the loading operation is completed, the water in the hold is discharged before the ship sails from port. This is the only vessel in the world designed to load ironsand slurry and thus requires advanced operating and loading/discharging technique and know-how.

[mappress]

Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, May 17, 2012; Images: nyk