Unique widening breaks new eco ground

NSB spokeswoman Bettina Wieber told

The Motorship’s

Germany correspondent Tom Todd that the Panmax container ship

MSC Geneva

was widened midships by 7

.

56m to 39

.

76m, increasing capacity from 4,860 teu to over 6,300 teu

.

The operation lasted four months

and

Wieber said it involved 4,120 tonnes of new steel on the 63,505dwt, 274

.

97m long ship, which is now being fitted out

.

“The bow was first removed as was the superstructure

and

then the ship was cut along its entire length, separated

and

widened by three container widths”, she said

.

The engine room

and

superstructure were not affected by the operation except for the bridge wings, which were also widened, she added

.

NSB said the ship will carry more cargo

and

be more stable than before while operating at the same cost

.

Widening such Panmax ships by two to four container rows was also cheaper than buying a new ship

and

faster to realise, said the German company, which has a fleet of 65 mainly container ships of 3

.

7 million dwt

.

DNV GL described the operation as “a solution that allows forward thinking owners to keep their vessels competitive in the market for longer”

.

Wieber reported that MSCV Geneva was being fitted out after completion of widening

and

that work was following on container sister ships

Buxhai

and

Buxwind

(ex

MSC Carouge)

.

NSB project head Bozidar Petrovic said the most suitable c

and

idates for widening were ships built after 2005

.

“We believe that the market potential is big” he said

.

Widening is the latest development in an NSB retrofit programme to make existing ships more fuel

and

eco efficient

.

Last year NSB converted the fire-damaged 85,823dwt MSC Flaminia into a “modern eco-ship” installing an optimised bulbous bow

.

The firm says such bows can reduce speed to below 20 knots

and

fuel bills by 5%

.

Several NSB ships have already had their bulbous bows swapped, among them the 101,662dwt boxship CMA CGM Hugo

.