ARKLOW BOOKS FURTHER SHORT-SEA SERIES

The latest stage in the family-controlled company’s prodigious investment strategy entails seven vessels of 6,600dwt from Royal Bodewes at Hoogezand, near Groningen, a trusted supplier of tonnage to the Arklow fleet. Industry sources indicate that an eventual 10-ship programme may be contemplated.

Registro Italiano Navale (RINA) has been entrusted by the yard with plan approval, construction supervision and classification of the confirmed seven-ship series, scheduled for delivery from October 2022 onwards at three- to four-month intervals.

The complete design package, with all drawings, calculations and manuals will be approved by the society, with the design review period running through the first half of this year.

RINA’s marine commercial senior director Pino Spadafora said “This is an important contract and one which signals favourable times for shipping in northern Europe… As part of our ongoing digitalisation program, we will make our most recent plan approval platform available to the shipyard for an increased cooperative approach and a much more efficient approval process.”

Dutch propensity for collaborating with compatriot industrial firms is exemplified by Bodewes’ award of a wide-ranging electrical engineering package for the seven vessels, including the associated installation work, to Piet Brouwer Electrotechnology. The scope of the order features, in each case, the electric drive for the bow thruster, shaft generator, monitoring of tanks and main engine, a UMS alarm system and LED lighting.

The Urk-based company had been engaged for a previous, large-scale Arklow fleet development project undertaken by Royal Bodewes, encompassing 10 Bodewes Trader-type singledeckers of 5,200dwt completed between 2015 and 2018. More recently, Piet Brouwer acted as electrotechnical supplier to the quartet of 16,700dwt bulkers constructed for Arklow by the German subsidiary of Dutch shipbuilder Ferus Smit, and commissioned between 2018 and 2020.

Among Arklow’s outstanding newbuild commitments is the last of six 8,600dwt singledeckers booked from Ferus Smit.

With main offices in Ireland and the Netherlands, Arklow Shipping operates a modern fleet of approximately 60 singledeck cargo vessels and short-sea bulkers under the Irish and Dutch flags, serving contracts of affreightment and spot fixtures across the gamut of regionally traded commodities and industrial products.