The Japanese shipyard Tsuneishi Shipbuilding has gain orders for a new type of bulk carrier with a capacity of 88 thousand tonnes. Details of the ordering part, as well as the transaction itself, including the number of vessels and delivery times, have not been disclosed. Due to the coronavirus and the very difficult situation on the shipbuilding market, representatives of the Japanese shipyard do not want to give details of the contract.
What kind of bulk carriers will it be?
The project of the new bulk carrier was announced last autumn. This is a slightly larger version of ships built in this shipyard, with a load capacity of 82 thousand tons. So far, they created 200 ships.
Kamsarmaxes are bulk carriers with a maximum size, including an overall length of 229 meters, enabling them to call at Kamsar Port in Guinea in West Africa. They usually carry bauxite.
The new bulk carrier of the Tsuneishi shipyard project has a load capacity of 88 thousand tonnes. The shipyard claims that it will be able to call up to 90% of the ports available for the smaller ships of load capacity of 82 thousand tonnes.
New Kamsarmaxes
At the end of last year, the Tsuneishi Shipbuilding shipyard had problems with winning new contracts due to the collapse of the dry bulk market. Environmental issues and the reduction of harmful emissions from ships were also an additional obstacle.
The new bulk carriers are to comply with the regulations for reducing harmful emissions. Thanks to special propeller design and an optimized hull shape with lower hydrodynamic resistance, they will burn 5% less fuel per tonne-kilometer. The superstructure of the ship is also intended to allow less wind resistance.
MT-FAST technology, developed in cooperation with the Monohakobi Technology Institute and the NYK Line Group, has been used to increase drive performance by approximately 4%. This solution consists of mounting on the hull of the ship in the area of water inflow to the propeller, an additional set of many smaller panels so that water flow can be regulated.
A new type of bulk carrier – Who can be the orderer?
According to brokerage sources, Kambara Kisen, a shipping company from the Tsuneishi Holdings Corp. group, the same one to which the Tsuneishi Shipbuilding shipyard also belongs, maybe one of the ordering parties.
It is estimated that bulk carriers will be built at the local Tsuneishi branch office in Fukuyama and in Tsuneishi Heavy Industries (Cebu) in the Philippines.
Shipping sources also revealed that TIS Trade Asia, a Hong Kong grain importing company, was already scheduled to charter two of the ordered ships for more than five years.
