Shipping company Spliethoff Group, Amsterdam, has recently ordered no less than ten new ships from Chinese shipyards. The vessels include a submersible vessel, Roll-on/Lift-off (RoLo) and Lift-on/Lift-off (LoLo) vessels and two of the new DP2 B-type.

To replace the Super Servant 4 (1982 – 12.642 GT), Spliethoff ordered a submersible vessel to transport yachts for its operating company Sevenstar Yacht Transport. The order was placed at Yantai CIMC Raffles Shipyard Co. Ltd. This vessel will be named Yacht Servant (43,400 GT, 12,780 DWT, construction number H-485, imo 9890812) and is to be delivered in June 2021. Further details have not yet been released.

RoLo Paper Carriers and LoLo Wood Products Carriers

Due to a longtime charter with Finnish UPM, seven ships have been ordered from Wuhu Shipyard Co. Ltd. This order includes three RoLo paper carriers to be operated by Bore OY AB and four LoLo wood pulp and other forest products carriers to be operated by Wijnne Barends BV, Delfzijl.

The RoLo-type for Bore OY (top) and the LoLo-type for Wijnne Barends.

These vessels with ice class 1A measure 9000 and 7000 GT respectively. The ships are 120 metres long and 21 metres wide. The ships will be equipped with a dual-fuel propulsion system, which considerably reduces the emission of harmful substances when LNG is used as fuel instead of marine gas oil (MGO). When LNG is used, emissions of CO2 are reduced by approximately 25 per cent, NOx by 85 per cent, SOx by 99 per cent, and particulate matter by 99 per cent.

Deliveries for the Bore vessels are planned between October 2020 and July 2021 and for the four WB vessels between October 2021 and May 2022.

DP2 B-type Vessels

For now, the newbuild spree ends with an order for the first two vessels of the DP2 B-type (see picture at the top). These were ordered from Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding Ltd., Fuzhou. These ships, the Brouwersgracht and Bloemgracht, are to be delivered in October 2021 en February 2022.

These ships combine the intake of a multi-purpose vessel with a DP2 station-keeping ability of up to Bft 6, making it ideal for supplying large volumes and heavy cargo directly offshore. For fast and efficient loading and discharge of pipes, the vessel has a removable, automated, pipe-handling gantry crane installed.

The B-type is also equipped with two Huisman 500-metric-tonne Heavy Lift Mast cranes, making it suitable for both heavy lift transportation and offshore installation. The lifting capacity is 500 tonnes at 13.5 metres, 420 tonnes at 13 metres on the port side or 265 tonnes at 8 metres on the starboard side.

The ships will be equipped with a 5300-kW diesel engine, four 2000-kW auxiliary engines, a scrubber and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) to comply with the requirements of IMO Tier III.

The vessels’ particulars are: 12,500 DWT – L o.a. (l.l.) x B = 141.30 (136.50) x 24.50 metres. When used open-top, the draught is 7.85 metres. The vessels have two bow thrusters in tunnels (2 x 1950 kW) and two stern thrusters in tunnels (2 x 1100 kW) plus a retractable rudder propeller (1800 kW) in front and a retractable rudder propeller (1800 kW) at the stern. The service speed is 13 knots with a maximum of 15 knots.

The B-type offers 2875 square metres of cargo deck space and 5700 square metres of total deck space. This means the intake is significantly higher than existing offshore supply vessels. The ships are built under class of Lloyd’s Register, have ice class 1A and also comply with the Polar code.