Rickmers Linie Orders Two Vessels from Chinese Shipyard

Rickmers Linie, a specialist in the global transportation of break-bulk, heavylift and project cargoes based in Germany, announced today that the company has ordered two vessels from Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (China).

The newbuildings are multipurpose heavy lift vessels with the carrying capacity of 20,000 DWT. The vessels will each be equipped with two onboard cranes.

Rickmers Shipmanagement will be in charge for construction supervision and technical management, while the Rickmers shipping company is responsible for the asset and commercial management.

The delivery of the vessels will take place from January to March 2015.

According to Ulrich Ulrichs, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Rickmers-Linie, the new ships will be known in the Rickmers fleet as PX-900-type vessels:

“While the design is based on the P1/P2 Type, the Rickmers Group is working with the yard to develop a more efficient design to reflect current market needs. Significantly improved technical specifications will lead to a substantial reduction in fuel consumption. The optimised hull form and a high efficiency propeller and rudder will enable the new ships to achieve an operating speed of 16.5 knots while using considerably less power and being optimised for slower speeds operating down to 10% MCR.

“We have not yet determined on which new routes these vessels will be placed. Bearing in mind that the current multi-purpose and heavy lift orderbook shows that deliveries from 2015 onwards are very few, we are confident that there will be strong market requirements for these excellent vessels.”

[mappress]

World Maritime News Staff, December 17, 2012