South African shipper places barge orders in China

Grindrod?s ship owning arm, Unicorn Shipping, has placed shipbuilding orders for two high-specification bunkering barges and secured options for more from a southern China shipyard.

This had been done in response to the announcement by South Africa?s Grindrod?s black-economic-empowerment subsidiary, Southern Tankers, that it was diversifying into barged in-port bunker delivery services. The company said that the first two ships were scheduled for delivery in October next year.

“There is growing trend worldwide to move away from traditional pipeline deliveries to inherently safer water-borne deliveries of bulk bunker fuel to ships in port,” said Grindrod CEO designate Alan Olivier, who added that, according to the new mandatory marine oil-pollution regulations, oil barges were expected to be of double-hull construction as from 2008. The vessels would be able to deliver fuel bunkers to customer vessels at rates of up to 1,000 m 3/h.

Each vessel would have three six-person crews for round-the-clock service, giving two vessels the potential to create employment for some 40 personnel. The barges would have sufficient power to handle the south-westerly “busters” in Durban and the notorious Cape southeasters.