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18m outreach, reducing to 200t at 30m.
Twinned capacity is 800t. A 120t crane is
Far from all gloom and doom in the heavy lift market
fitted on the portside forward.
P
roject cargo and heavy lift shipping, due to its parent company Spliethoff, They share the same twin hold con- The “Happy” D-class will also be These ships are part of BigLift’s ex-
by nature of the long planning, whose newbuilding programme com- figuration, with the main hold being equipped with three deck cranes. Two of pansion programme, which will see two
design and construction lead times prises seven D-class Gracht 18,500 dwt 70.4m long on the upper/middle tween these, mounted midships and aft on the 18,900 dwt specialised heavy lift carriers
for their cargoes, enter a downward cycle vessels on order in China, on which the deck and 64m on the tank top. starboard side, are capable of a 400t lift at enter the fleet end 2009/early 2010. The
after other freight shipping sectors. BigLift D-series are closely based. ships, HAPPY SKY and HAPPY STAR under
By the same token the sector is also The first ship in the Spliethoff series, construction at the Indian shipyard of
one of the last to come out of a recession DIJKSGRACHT, was delivered late last year. Larsen & Toubro at a cost of some
as major engineering projects are reacti- The Dutch operator also has a further US$95M, will be equipped with twin
vated/commissioned. But there is an up- eight F-class 12,500 dwt multi-purpose Huisman deck cranes, each rated at 900t
beat attitude in the industry. Niels carriers under construction in China. and capable of a twinned 1800t lift.
Stolberg, President, CEO and founder of The D-Gracht series are relatively Unlike the more conventional multi-
the Beluga Group, said only last month: heavily geared for conventional multi- purpose heavy lift vessels, these ships will
“Compared to container or bulk shipping, purpose vessels, having three 120t-16m have a forward bridge structure, although
the project and heavy lift segment is rather deck cranes and they have the same hull
stable. Especially the oil and gas sector, as size and 8400 kW propulsion system as
OHT’s HEAVYLIFT HAWK as chartered by
well as the energy sector, there are fields the BigLift ships, giving a laden service ZPMC, seen nearing MCT Gioia Tauro
of activity in which we are a strong project speed of 17 knots, with five superpost-Panamax cranes
partner and in which the companies in-
volved are still investing strongly, as they
are well positioned financially despite the
global meltdown.”
Out of the blocks
Beluga has had a meteoric rise since it
took delivery of its first ship in 1997. Cur-
rently it operates a fleet of around 50
multi-purpose ships ranging between
9800 dwt and 17,100 dwt with lifting
range from 240t to 700t (twinned), and
none over five years old save one. Most
notably, Beluga’s order book encompasses
no fewer than 53 heavy lift carriers.
Thirteen of these are of the so-called
F-class of 12,750 dwt and equipped with
2 x 180t cranes, with delivery times until
September 2011, joining 23 sister vessels.
The earlier ships in this series, entering
service from 2006, were equipped with 2
x 120t cranes; later ships were upgraded
to 2 x 150t and then 2 x 180t for the
latest deliveries from 2008.
P-class
Beluga insists that these newbuilding or-
ders are confirmed, financed and that it
remains committed to its newbuilding
programme. This was underlined last Oc-
tober when it added four more ships to
its P2-class. These total some 14 units and
deliveries stretch through to June 2012.
It is the larger P-class, totalling some
24 units, which represent a serious chal-
lenge to the more specialised heavy lift
market. Of this series of 20,000 dwt ships,
14 will be equipped with 2 x 400t cranes,
designated the P-800, while 10 P-1400
newbuildings will be fitted with twinned
700t cranes. Both versions will also have
a 120t deck crane mounted forward.
Rickmers-Linie’s commitment to the
heavy lift/project cargo liner trades is also
emphasised by its newbuilding pro-
gramme, with 14 multi-purpose heavy lift
carriers under construction for delivery
in 2010 and 2011. Despite the current
economic environment, the company has
no doubts, according to Gerhard Janssen,
marketing & sales director, of this policy.
“Of course the situation on the world
market is challenging and multipurpose and
breakbulk markets are not immune to the
economic turmoil. Oil and gas and min-
ing projects may be re-evaluated and post-
poned. However, everything connected to
power generation projects and develop-
ment appears to be rather resilient.
“Besides, China, the US and the EU www.beluga-group.com
are launching massive investment pro-
grammes to stimulate the economy, which BELUGA Germany
will mainly aim at building infrastructure.
Bremen
Phone +49 (0) 421 333 22 583
We are optimistic that this will result in
E-Mail europe@beluga-group.com
opportunities for Rickmers-Linie.”
All the same, four of eight 24,000 dwt
ships equipped with 2 x 350t cranes and
a 100t crane ordered late 2008 have been
“deferred.” Janssen considers that with the
current turmoil in the shipbuilding in-
dustry, it makes sense to await some sta-
bility. “We want to see how many of the
multipurpose/heavy lift ships ordered by
other operators will end up being built.”
Big orders
The current economic gloom over short
term prospects in the heavy lift/project
cargo market has not deterred other op-
erators from continuing to invest in the
newbuilding market, in spite of fears of
looming overcapacity, with BigLift Ship-
ping, announcing an order in January for
five new 17,500 dwt carriers from the
Chinese Ohua shipyard for delivery from
July to December 2010.
The short delivery times available are
March 2009 31
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