More Traders on order

GTR Campbell, the designers of standard design ships like Freedom, Fortune, Friendship and Fantasy, in cooperation with their associated concept design firm Algoship Designers in the Bahamas, are behind the latest new building order for 12 ships of the 30,000 DWT Trader class handysize double hull bulk carriers. The order was placed by their long term clients Clipper Group of the Bahamas with the Chinese shipbuilder Tsuji Heavy Industries (Jiang su) Ltd. Zhangjiagang.

The Trader design is based on numerous discussions between the Chartering and Operations department of Clipper and the technical department of their technical managers, Dockendale Shipping Co Ltd., and drawing on GTRC?s own experience in standard ship design and supervision for various owners such as Unicorn, Navarone, Pyrsos, Egon Oldendorff, Aug Bolten and Transmer.

The highly optimized Trader design incorporates high specification machinery and equipment with safe margins, high specification paint coating including tar-free light coloured “surveyor friendly” paints for ballast tanks, tin free antifouling paints with sixty months life, a 1300 mm wide double hull giving ample access for surveys and inspections.

The characteristic Algoship wide hatches (75% of the beam) with minimum overhang, large cargo hold tank top foot prints with small side hoppers and square bulkhead stools and four sets of 30 ton cranes fitted with radio controlled grabs enables the TRADER design to handle cargoes without the assistance of secondary cargo handling equipments such as forklifts, pay-loaders etc. This not only reduces cargo damages but also substantially reduces the cargo handling time and costs.

In the past, Tsuji Heavy Industries has mainly focused on manufacturing hatch covers, cranes and mega blocks for post Panamax container ships and Suezmax tankers for major Japanese Shipbuilders. This project will be an important step for them in their attempt to become a new building yard.

The first of the Trader vessels, ?Bossclip Trader?, was delivered by Cochin Shipyard on 12 April of this year on time and has been performing to the satisfaction of owners, operators and charterers. Currently, four Traders are under construction at Shanhaiguan Shipyard in China, six (one delivered) at Cochin Shipyard and four at Hindustan Shipyard in India. An order for 6 at Hantong Shipyard is pending.