Norwegians order frozen food carrier duo

Multi Maritime, the Norwegian-based naval architect firm, has conceived an interesting and innovative multi-purpose container reefer vessel to transport fish products on short-sea routes in Europe. Two examples of this design, code named ?MM 80 Reefer?, have been ordered from domestic shipbuilder and fishing boat specialists Vaagland Batbyggeri located in Halsa some 80 miles south of Trondheim.

The first of these 2,400dwt vessels has been ordered by Egil Ulvan Rederi in Trondheim for delivery in September next year and will be named Kristian With. The second ship will be owned by Transport Group AS (CTG) in Sortland for completion in June 2006. Both vessels will be under charter to CTG and operated by Egil Ulvan.

The design was developed in close cooperation with the owners, and the brief was to carry palletised and containerised refrigerated sea food, be able to operate in the harsh environment of the North Atlantic and North Sea, have a relatively high service speed of 16 knots and a high comfort level. The ice-strengthened 80 metre long hull was tank tested in Trondheim. Frozen cargoes will be stowed in four separate holds with a total capacity of 146,553 cubic feet at temperatures down to ?27C. The refrigeration plant uses ammonia as the primary cooling medium and brine as the secondary medium.

In addition, the vessels will be fitted with 30 reefer plugs and be able to carry 28FEU and 2TEU boxes on deck. Cargo handling is by means of a 50 tonne lifting capacity crane manufactured by Dreggen Crane of Bergen and one cargo lift with a 4.1 tonne capacity located on the port side affording access to the cargo holds.

The complete propulsion plant including the reduction gear and CP propeller is supplied by MAN B&W and is based on a 3,060 kW medium speed MAN B&W 9L27/38 diesel engine. For manoeuvring, a Becker high lift flap rudder is fitted together with a 500kW bow thruster and a 350kW stern thruster supplied by Brunvoll.

Both the owners and the yard are former customers of Multi Maritime which designed the general cargo carrier Mikal With that was delivered in 2002. n