Glad tidings of a grand old favourite as the age of big carriers continues
IT WAS like hearing that an old friend had been reprieved from a mortal ailment when, via a Dutch maritime news sheet, I learnt that the massive ore carrier Berge Stahl was still in service.
Earlier this year, reports indicated that the 31-year-old vessel was to be withdrawn and scrapped. However, with a cargo of Brazilian iron ore, she arrived at the Omani port of Sohar last week.
At 342 metres and 36 4767 deadweight, and designed for the Brazil-Rotterdam iron ore haul, she was the largest bulker until the advent of the 400-metre Vale-class in 2011.
I wrote previously of my visit to her during her only call at Saldanha Bay some years ago when, after dry-docking in China and loading a part-cargo at Port Hedland in Australia, she topped up with local ore for Rotterdam.
The same news sheet also reports that the world’s largest container ship, the 400-metre OOCL Hong Kong, transited the Suez Canal last week with a record cargo of 21400 teu, which is shipping-speak for the equivalent of 21 400 twenty-foot (about six metres) containers.
On the Asia-Europe service, she calls at four Chinese ports, Singapore, Felixstowe (UK), and three ports in western Europe. She is due in Singapore on Saturday.
Among my collection of shipping books is one tracing the history of the P&O Steam Navigation Company, once a leader in British shipping, but apart from ferry services that carry its name, the company as many knew it no longer exists.
Custom-built in the 1960s for the Overseas Container Line’s UK-Australasia service (later absorbed by P&O), four Bay-class container ships had their accommodation aft and an elongated, curved exhaust flue atop a squat, green funnel.
I saw one of these vessels for the first time during the last Suez closure when she took stores – against the setting sun – at the rendezvous position north-west of Green Point light, a common practice for Suez diverts at that time.
On some occasions, those pioneering container ships came into port for bunkers.
Several photographs of these ships – and indeed photographs of the first group of container ships on the South African trade – show only 20-footers on deck, in contrast to the 40-footers that predominate aboard today’s vessels.
By using 40-footers, more cargo can be loaded or discharged in one lift. Because of the faster cargo handling rate, ships spend less time in port, saving the operator a considerable amount in port dues.
OOCL Hong Kong is one of four similar ships built by the company, eclipsing the size and cargo capacity of earlier leviathans. The 14 770teu Emma Maersk drew widespread acclaim when she entered service in August 2006, while seven years later, Maersk McKinney Moller – the first of 31 pioneering Triple-E Maersk ships with an 18 000-teu capacity – grabbed the headlines on her maiden voyage. Geneva-based MSC and Chinese operators joined the rush for these large vessels, and each company briefly led the race in terms of vessel-capacity.
Late last week, news came that MSC and the French company CMA CGM will jumbo-ise 11 and 10 of their slightly smaller ships respectively, to give them a cargo capacity of around 18 000 teu.
As economy of scale dictates that it is cheaper to move large cargo volumes in one ship, it is not rocket science to conclude that even larger ships will be built in the near future.
On longer hauls, smaller vessels cannot compete with these huge container ships that have reduced the Europe-Asia freight rates, although feeder services operating between the major hub ports where the big critters call and other ports have grown. It’s an ill wind…
Warm wishes to all readers for a wonderful 2018.