20 NEWS

Trad W 1ds

13 February 2015

SHIPYARDS

.,.DELIVERY: Left, HBC cofounder Jens von Husen. Above,

the Venture Gool. Right, Liu Yujiao
of Qingshan Shipyard Business
Department and HBC Asia
(Singapore) managing director
Georg Greilinger both made
an address during the naming
ceremony of the Venture Luck and
Venture Goal.
Photos: HAMBURG BULK CARRIERS

Hamburg Bulk boss urges owners

up to speed on new environmental
Jens von Husen says shipping needs to 'get clean' as freight buyers and financiers hone their focus on
Geoff Garfield London
tighter environmental grip on
ships will throw the spotlight on
what a German and Singaporebased operator terms "stranded
assets".
Hamburg Bulk Carriers (HBC)
has taken delivery of the first
two in a series of fuel-efficient
bulkers but co-founder and Hamburg managing director Jens von
Husen says shipping has "reacted
very slowly" or not at all to the ear
ly announcement of emission con
trol areas (ECAs) covering numerous ports in Europe and the US.
"This is strange since the focus
of 'total resource consumption'
and 'total resource effectiveness'
has even made its way to Wall
Street;' he said.
Von usen wams that the in
dustry is running out of time facing up to climate and environmental challenges.
"surely, we as an industry, together with our customers, must
follow what other established in
dustries started many years ago.
We must 'get clean'," he said.
Von Husen says vehicle manufacturers had been in "headtohead competition" to produce fuel-efficient and altemativeenergy
engines, something which began
slowly but has been propelled forward by urban environmental regulation and public pressure.
He predicts that buyers of
freight will start to pay closer at
tention to ECA regulations, "some
driven by fear of penalties, others
driven by the wish for improveA

ments or pressure by their own

customers".
And with some vessels no longer
able to operate profitably in such
areas, von Husen said: "We therefore believe that the fmancial part
of the maritime world will soon
start to analyse what may be con
sidered 'stranded assets' on top of

the numerous distressed assets.

"All in all, these are exciting times.
We know what we have to do, even
if not all technologies are mature
yet.
"We know we will not go back
to sail. The goal is clear and we are
happy to fire the starting shot at
our industry and to invite more

of our customers and related industries to join us in getting there,

namely zero-emission vessels.
"It is a long and challenging
journey and we welcome every
band onboard."
Von Husen's comments came as
HBC named the innovative HBC43
bulkers Venture Luch, which is em-

.,. TECHNICAL TEAM: (From left) Cadet Degu Samson Terefe; Wuhan/Nantong site team a5sistant
Cherry Xie; TMS Ship Management managing director lan Thompson; Hauping Huang of the Nantong
site team; Zhiming Liu of the Nantong site team; Wuhan site team assistant manager Bob Zhang;
Captain Belous Oleksandr; electrical engineer Shumal Maksym; chief officer Borysenko Yuriy; fleet
manager Wladek Piechik; second engineer Pozdnyakov Gennadly; and chief engineer Bilyy Dmytro.

barking on its maiden voyagc, and

Venture Goal, built at the Qingshan
Shipyard in Wuhan, China.
Based on Finnish designer Deltamarin's "B Delta" concept, the
43,500-dwt bulkers have been
modifted for typical HBC cargo
contracts and feature a shallow
draught to maximise trading flexibility.
HBC claims the handy bulkers
mark a "milestone" as regards the
Energy Efficiency Design Index
(EEDI) by undercutting the cur
rent EEDI - for ships constructed
before December 2014 - by 32.55%
at a speed of 14.69 knots (4,lSlg
Co2/tonne-nautical mile).
Even when EEDI phase three
arrives in 2025, it is claimed the
HBC43 bulkers will still exceed
requirements by 2.55%. But at the
moment, only a few freight desks
are willing to pay a premium for a
green vessel, says HBC.
"Any saving on consumption is
welcomed by our customers but
there is no premium offered for
the innovative job itself," said von
Husen - a conclusion reached
when sounding out the market
place.
Georg Greilinger, cofounder
and managing director of HBC in
Singapore, said: "We started this
project by looking historicallv at
all our cargo contracts in the previous decade, including a detailed
study of the voyages and ports involved, thus giving us a basic understanding of the ideal vessel for
our customers.
He describes the newbuildings
as a good example of a close and

13 February 2015

SHIPYARDS 21

TradeWinds

Guangzhou-based yard is expanding as new owner GSI relocates from its

current site earmarked for commercial and residential development
lrene Ang Slngapore

China's state owned Guangzhou

Longxue Shipbuilding is expand
ing capacity by adding two landbased newbuilding facilities.
The move will accommodate
Hong Kong-listed Guangzhou
Shipyard International (GSI),
which will vacate its city-centre
site by 2017.
GSI is being forced to relocate by
the Guangzhou municipal government to make room for residential
and commercial developments.
CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY

to.get

1ssues
emissions compliance
fruitful co-operation between a
beneficial cargo owner and its
ocean carrier. HBC was fortunate
to have industrial clicnts with
"both the capacity and appetite to
engage in further improvements
of a design, which we originally
considered the best around".
!an Thompson, managing director of TMS Ship Management
in Hamburg, assisted Deltamarin
in improving the design. TMS, described as part membcr of HBC
Group and which was rcsponsible
for yard supervision and trials, is
technical manager.
Captain Stefan Bulow said: "The
ships are an extended version of
the B Delta 37 and demonstrate the
old adage 'Lange lauft' - or 'length
is speed'."
He says the newbuildings have
an "outstanding" speed/consumption relationship.
The first series of HBC43s in
volves the delivery of 10 vessels of which HBC Group has fmanced
most by itself.
Greilinger says they were ordered partly together with a longterm industrial client from within
the European Union. Such trust,
he says, demonstrates the "best
currency in our industry".
HBC says, among other changes, the newbuilding programme
marked the company's transformation from a vessel operator into
anowner.
The first of the new HBC43 bulkers will carry wood pellets from
Vancouver to Liverpool, described
as an apt clean-energy cargo for an
environmentally friendly ship.

A yard executive confirms GSI's

switch to Longxue, adding that
construction work is underway.
"We can start building ships in
the new facilities from next year,"
he said. "We will construct them
on solid land without the use of a
drydock.11
The shoreside facility, also
known as the "skid launch" ship
building system - 'vill be less ex
pensive to build than installing a
new drydock.
South Korea's Hyundai Heavy
Industries (HHI) is believed to
have been the first yard in the

Efshipping
books pair of
panamaxes
in China
Trond Lillestolen Oslo

Greek owner Efshipping is ex

panding its fleet with an order
for two 81,000dwt bulkers at
Tsuneishi Group (Zhoushan)
Shipbuilding.
The ships are scheduled for
delivery in 2017 and are likely
to be costing $32m to $33m
apiece.
lt is unclear whether there
are any options attached to
the deal.
GROWING MODERN FLEET

Efshipping has a modern fleet

of eight ships,all bulkers from
supramax to kamsarmax in
size. In 2011 and 2012, it took
delivery of three 81,000dwt
newbuildings from Sungdong
Heavy Industries that reportedly cost $36m each when
hooked in 2010.
The company already has
two Tsuneishi-built panamax
bulkers in its fleet, the 76,000
dwt Crest Voyager (renamed
Ocean Domina) and IVS Merlot
(rcnamed Argolis, both built
20os), which were purchased
in 2013 for $16m each. They
are the two oldest ships in the
fleet.

GUANGZHOU LONGXUE: Shipbuilding site with

plenty

room to expand.

world to start use this method to

build commercial ships more than
a decade ago. other shipbuilders
that followed suit include STX offshore & Shipbuilding, Sungdong
Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and DSME.
Market players believe Longxue
may be the first state-owned Chinese yard to adopt the land-based

Photo:

esse

method. One broker notes that it

is more common for Chinese yards
to use slipways, although those focusing on offshore units build vessels on land.
TradeWinds understand that
Korean-owned Samsung Hcavy
Industries (Ningbo) may be the
only yard in China that is us
ing the innovative skid-launch

technique for merchant ships spccifically medium-range (MR)

tankers for Capital Maritime of
Greece.
Longxue is one of the new fa
cilities established by China State
Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC) during
the shipbuilding boom in the early 2ooos. lt is equipped with two
large drydocks and can produce
3.5 million dwt of vessels annually. These range from kamsarmax
bulkers to very large ore carriers
(VLOCs) and big tankers.
GSI1 which also comes under
the wing of esse, took control of
longxue early last year after paying CNY 956m ($153m) for the yard.
"GSI is known for building mid
size tankers such as the MR prod
ucts carriers," said the yard executive. "lt will continue to focus on
this ship type after the relocation."
GSI won state approval for
its purchase of sister yard esse
Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding from the parent group at the
end of November. Huangpu has
three shipbuilding sites scattered
around Guangzhou. Two are earmarked to relocate to Longxue in
the near future where new facilities will be added.

Meyer Werft gets started on

first of two Star cruiseships
Adam Corbett London

Germany's leading shipbuilder,

Meyer Werft, is keeping up with
the construction schedule of its
packed orderbook by starting work
on the first of two 151,000-gt luxury cruiseships for Asian operator
Star Cruises.
Star chairman Tarn Sri Lim was
on band at the main Papenburg
yard this week to begin steel cutting on the ship, which is due for
delivery in autumn 2016.
lt has been specially designed
for the Asian market. At the cer
emony Meyer Werft managing
partner Bernard Meyer praised
the "long-lasting relationship" between the yard and Star.
Meyer Werft has eight cruiseships on order that will fill its
docks through to 2019. lt recently
increased its share of the cruise
ship share by taking over the
TUrku yard in Finland, now Meyer
TUrku Oy, from STX Group.
The yard also recently signed a
deal with local shipbuilding union IG Meta! and the local government to continue employment
and training in the Papenburg region until 2030 to secure its workforce.
It also recently improved effi
ciency by tweaking its production
technique to enable it to produce
two of the largest cruiseships per

" STEEL-CUTTINO CEREMONY: Bernard Meyer (left),

managing partner of Meyer Werft, and Tan Sri Lim,
Photo: MEYER WERFT
chairman of Star Cruises

year to meet its production target.

Meyer werft is also lining up its
next delivery, a 164,000-gt cruiseship for Norwegian cruise Line
(NCL), following the handover of
the 1551000-gt Quantum of the Seas
(built 2014) to Royal Caribbean
Cruises. That vessel is regarded
as the most technically advanced
cruiseship in the world.
In a separate development involving Germany and Asia, MAN

Diesel & Turbo says it has re

newed an existing contract with
China Shipbuilding IndustryCorp
(CSIC) covering th~ production of
low-speed engines at three of the
Chinese yard's affiliated ftrms.
The new deal will run for 10
years and involves Dalian Marine
Diesel, Yichang Marine Diesel En
gine Co and Qingdao Haixi Marine
Diesel. MAN has been working
with CSIC since 1980.