Eilbeck / Reinbeck / Flottbeck / Barmbeck - Container Ships

German shipowner Hansa Hamburg Shipping International has commissioned four new container ships that the shipowner claims sets news standards for the feeder segment. The sister ships are the MS Eilbeck, MS Reinbeck, MS Flottbeck and MS Barmbeck.

The Eilbeck was formally launched in January 2005 at Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg. The Reinbeck was delivered in March, the Flottbeck was handed over in May and The Barmbeck followed in July 2005. All four have been chartered by the Canadian operator CP Ships and will be in service on the route between Canada - mainly Montreal and North Western Europe.

The vessels have an overall length of 169m and a moulded breadth of 27.2m. They have a draught of 9m and register a tonnage of 16,324gt. The layout of the vessel is over 14 decks.

These slender-built ships can operate at a speed of 20 knots. From a technical viewpoint, the ships are noteworthy due to the highest ice-class (Finnish-Swedish 1A Super).

This means they are ideally suited to year-round operation in northern hemisphere waters, where they can navigate ice floes of more than 1m in thickness without icebreaker escorts.

SHIP DESIGN AND CARGO

Another feature is the special arrangement of the hatches. In the midship section they are designed as so-called 'open-top ships', while on the forward end, as well as on both sides, hatch covers are provided. The triple, longitudinal division of the cargo hold is a novelty.

This innovative ship design allows for the best possible flexibility when operating the vessel as feeder ship.

The vessels have a total container capacity of 1,620TEU of which integrated cooling containers total 308.

There are 17 crew cabins and six passenger cabins.

ENGINES, POWER AND MANOEUVRING

The ships are powered by MAN B&W two-stroke engines which generate an output of 12,640kW. These are linked to a single controllable-pitch propeller. The ship has a fuel consumption of approximately 46t of heavy fuel oil /day.

When coming into port, the vessel has manoeuvring aids in the form of bow and stern thrusters.

The port of registry for all the vessels is Hamburg. They are classified by Germanischer Lloyd under the notation +100 A 5 E4 Container Ship NAV-O BWMF+S +MC E4 AutFinnish/Swedish Ice Class 1A-Super.