JULY 30, 2013 — China's Tianjin Xingang Shipbuilding Heavy Industry has contracted Deltamarin Ltd to carry out approval and detail design work for the two (plus two options) post panamax car carriers ordered by Wallenius Lines in June (see earlier story). Prior to this contract, Deltamarin developed the outline and contract design, together with the shipyard, for the owner.

Post Panamax carriers will carry 8,000 cars compared to 6,000 carried by largest current ships such as Salome (left)

Tianjin Xingang shipyard has previously focused on building mainstream vessel types, such as bulk carriers. Deltamarin's assistance helped the yard secure the Wallenius contract for a more sophisticated vessel type.

The yard is currently building ten bulk carriers of Deltamarin's B.Delta37 design: four vessels for French Louis Dreyfus Armateurs and six vessels for the US-based M.T. Maritime Management Group.

The vessels for Wallenius Lines are highly efficient Ro-Ro Pure Car Truck Carriers ("PCTC"), which are intended for the transportation of rolling cargoes such as cars, trucks and other vehicles as well as High & Heavy ("H&H") rolling cargoes. The car carrier capacity will be equivalent to 8,000 cars, and the vessel and beam length will be 200 m and 36.5 m respectively. The vessels are designed to offer improved fuel efficiency and ensure low environmental impact. The hull is optimized for lowest fuel consumption, excellent sea keeping and operability over a worldwide operational profile. Special fuel saving devices are also applied to reduce fuel consumption.

The design work will be carried out mainly at Deltamarin's offices in Europe, while some detail design work will be conducted by Deltamarin's Chinese design partner from the CSIC group. The total contract value of Deltamarin's design work, to be carried out over an estimated period of 12 months, is EUR 3.5 million