SSG No 20 - Shipgaz

Jens Grabbe
fleet news
Editor: Pär-Henrik Sjöström ~ Phone: +358 2 242 62 50 ~ E-mail: par-henrik@shipgaz.com
New T-class
for Maersk Line
The Maersk Tanjong is the first in a new
series of container carriers from Daewoo to
the A. P. Møller-Mærsk Group. The T-class
is a standard type from the Korean Shipbuilder
Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine
Engineering and has been delivered from
their facilities at Okpo as hull no. 4117.
The ship is a 332 metres long and 43
metres beam container carrier with an official
capacity of 8,043 TEUs of which 750
containers can be reefers. All at a deadweight
of 107,500 DWT. These measures
correspond with the A-class vessels from
Odense Steel Shipyard.
Express service
The first of the T-class vessels has been
deployed on the AE10-service (Asia–
Europe) running from Shanghai via Ningbo,
Xiamen, Yantian and Hong Kong to
Suez, Algeciras, Felixstowe, Zeebrügge
and Dunkerque. The service is an express
service handling the rising export of goods
from China to European consumers.
The super-containerships in the E-class
run another express export service from
China called AE7, where the huge vessels
are often fully loaded on departure
from China. It is not unusual that an Eclass
vessel arrives at Algeciras (first port
of discharge) with a total cargo of 160,000
tons and discharges some 120,000 tons for
distribution to Africa, South America and
North America.
The new T-class vessels are powered by
Wärtsilä 12RT-flex96C engines developing
some 68,640 kW at a service speed of
around 25 knots.
bent mikkelsen
The Maersk Tanjong heading for Hamburg
on her maiden voyage.
The Fennia was built in 1966 and was later renamed the Casino express.
Sad end for the Fennia
The old passenger/car ferry Casino Express,
now renamed C Express, hit the headlines
after the Finnish Environment Institute
SYKE issued a transport ban due to suspicions
about scrapping plans. By mid-October
the vessel was still laid up in the port of
Vasa as the new owner Attar Construction
Ltd was waiting for the transport ban to be
reversed.
This is a sad end for an exceptionally
long career in the Baltic Sea. Built in 1966
as Fennia by Öresundsvarvet AB in Landskrona,
Sweden, she was back then the largest
and most innovative ferry in the rapidly
expanding traffic between Finland and
Sweden. Her owner Oy Siljarederiet Ab
introduced her on the route between Turku
(Åbo), Åland and the new ferry port Värtan
of Stockholm. Her size was regarded sensational
and both her cargo and passenger
capacity were considerably larger than on
the other ferries trading across the Sea of
Åland.
Laid up
Even though new and larger ferries were
introduced in an accelerating pace, the Fennia
continued in Silja Line’s traffic throughout
the 1970’s and she was finally laid up
at Turku in autumn 1982. After some short
charters she entered service with Jakob
Lines in 1984 and moved northwards to the
Gulf of Bothnia. With some exceptions the
ferry spent the rest of her active time there.
Two years later she was transferred to the
Rederi Ab Sally-owned Vasabåtarna, and
her original appearance was dramatically
changed during an extensive refit in Turku.
After Silja’s takeover of the Sally-company
she was back in Silja’s fleet.
The Fennia was a pioneer also in the ferry
traffic between Scandinavia and the Baltic
states. In 1992 she was on charter to a
ferry service between Norrköping and Riga.
In 1993 the Fennia returned to the Quark
(Kvarken). Summer 1999 was the very last
season in this area in Silja Line’s colours,
as the company laid down its routes across
the Quark after the abolishment of the taxfree
trade.
In 2001 the new company RG Line
bought the vessel and she re-entered service
between Vasa and Umeå, now renamed the
Casino Express. In 2005 she was replaced
by the ro-pax ferry RG I and after completing
the summer season in 2005 she has
been laid up at Vasa.
pär-henrik sjöström
72 sCanDInaVIan sHIPPInG GaZeTTe • OCTOber 26, 2007