ROMANIA KEEPS EUROPEAN TANKER BUILDING ALIVE

Classed by Registro Italiano Navale (RINA), the new Medium Range 1 (MR1)-category tankers are derived from a marginally smaller capacity type, of which 21 were completed by the Constanta yard between 2005 and 2013.

Dubbed the EcoMaxMR1 type, the first of up to six newbuilds was commissioned last year as the Histria Atlas, and the programme is gaining momentum with the next two tankers due to enter service in 2020. Operator Histria Shipmanagement is led by Gheorghe Bosinceanu, a leading light in Romania’s shipping industry, who is also president of shipbuilder SNC.

The EcoMaxMR1 is of comparatively shallow draught so as to maximise cargo intake in draught-restricted ports, and provides for IMO Type 2 and 3 chemicals as well as clean and dirty products. SDC Ship Design & Consult in Hamburg was engaged for the basic design, featuring an optimised hull and propulsion train, and hull lines were evaluated using both computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods and model testing at compatriot HSVA’s premises.

Coordination of the entire design phase, including detail design and 3D modelling, was carried out by the shipyard’s associated consultancy SNC Ship Design, working with the owner, builder, and RINA.

At the time of her christening, the 180-metre Histria Atlas was described as the largest chemical tanker built in Europe in accordance with the harmonised Common Structural Rules (CSR). Realisation of the EcoMaxMR1 series combines the wage cost competitiveness of Romanian construction with sourcing of the bulk of the ships’ equipment and technology from Western Europe.

The cargo section is divided by transverse bulkheads and a centreline bulkhead into 10 cargo tanks treated with epoxy resin and offering a total intake of 48,500m3, supplemented by two slop tanks. Each cargo space is fitted with a Framo deepwell pump of 500m3/h throughput capacity. The installation and its segregation arrangements are such that the ship’s practical, maximum loading rate is 3,750m3/h, with a maximum discharge outturn at 3,000m3/h.

Illustrative of the trading flexibility of the ships, as detailed by SNC Ship Design, is the capability to load about 34,000t of naphtha (specific gravity 0.70t/m3) at 10.5m draught, 36,000t of gasoline (SG: 0.74t/m3) at 10.8m, 38,600t of jet fuel (SG: 0.80t/m3) at 11.2m, and 38,700t of gas oil (SG: 0.84t/m3) at 11.2m.

Prominent in the Korean imports for the project is the propulsion machinery. First-of-class Histria Atlas is powered by an MAN six-cylinder S50ME-C9.5 diesel, manufactured by Korean licensee HSD Engine Co to a specified maximum continuous rating (SMCR) of 6,480kW at 89rpm, with direct drive to a 6.5m-diameter, Wartsila fixed-pitch propeller.

PRINCIPAL PARTICULARS – EcoMaxMR1-series tanker