BULKER DESIGN OPTIMISED FOR AUSTRALIAN TRADE

CSK Zephyr is registered in Singapore with Gulf Bulk Carriers, with beneficial ownership vested in Hong Kong-based Tai Chong Cheang Steamship Co (TCC), which ordered the vessel from Namura Shipbuilding. Assigned to a transportation contract with the BHP Group, the bulker is the first of a newly-developed Newcastlemax class incorporating a raft of energy-saving features and environmental safeguards within an optimised hull envelope of just under 300m length overall by 50m breadth.

While maximised for bulk cargo shipments through Newcastle, a diverse port and the world’s largest coal export outlet serving the Hunter region, the vessel is currently sailing between Western Australia and China. Namura’s Imari yard has a second-such newbuild in hand to be completed for as yet unspecified owners in early 2020.

CSK Zephyr is powered by a six-cylinder model of the G70ME-C9.5 electronically-controlled, two-stroke engine, produced at the Tamano works of prolific MAN licensee Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding. The diesel was specified at a maximum continuous output of 15,770kW at 75rpm, and provides direct drive to a Nakashima fixed pitch propeller, for a service speed of 14 knots.

Domestic sourcing of equipment predominates, as further illustrated by the ship’s three 700kW generators from Taiyo Electric Co, the Sasebo Heavy Industries-manufactured tailshaft, and the Osaka composite boiler.

An air seal-type stern tube sealing device has been adopted to reduce the risk of oil leakage, and the bunker storage arrangements provide for the use of low-sulphur fuel oil. A centralised fresh water cooling system for the main and auxiliary machinery is expected to ease the maintenance load, while a ballast water treatment system has been fitted to ensure compliance with new mandatory requirements. The cargo space is divided into nine holds, one of which is also designated for ballast water.

Energy saving appendages have been incorporated at the aftermost end of the hull, and the superstructure has been formed so as to reduce wind resistance.

CSK Zephyr has become the second-largest bulker in the TCC Group fleet, marginally smaller than the 208,660dwt CSK Enterprise handed over last year by Imabari Shipbuilding.

TCC and NYK have business ties stretching back nearly 50 years to the time when the former’s handysize bulker Silver Zephyr was taken on charter by the Japanese group. The fact that Silver Zephyr was a product of Namura testifies to a similarly long relationship between TCC and the Japanese shipbuilder.

Namura is in the vanguard of advances in bulker design. An earlier milestone was the 2017 delivery of the first of the 250,500dwt second generation of Wozmax carriers, denoting the maximum size for iron ore loading ports in Western Australia.

PRINCIPAL PARTICULARS—CSK Zephyr