BERTRAM RICKMERS, two years after bankruptcy, has returned to life having sent the first of ten 1,162-TEU feeders ordered in China on its maiden transpacific voyage, reports Singapore's Splash 247.
The new Hamburg company is headed by former Rickmers Maritime Trust CEO Soren Andersen, with Rickmers' son, Rickmer Clasen Rickmers, also involved.
Data from MarineTraffic shows the brand new green-hulled Spirit of Chennai left Fuzhou on Sunday as an extra loader from China to the US east coast.
The ship is the first in 10 that Rickmers has on order at Fujian Mawei Shipyard to be operated by 2020seaways, a Bertram Rickmers vehicle controlled by his new Hamburg company, Asian Spirit Steamship Company.
The ship will shortly be joined by the Spirit of Kolkata, both of which have been taken on charter for two years by MSC with an option to extend by a year.
The ships are hybrid scrubber fitted, and have commanded a healthy US$12,500 a day for the first two years, rising to $14,000 if they go for a third year.
The scrubber premium Rickmers has been able to extract from MSC is 45 per cent higher than for equivalent tonnage without a scrubber.
Mostly, scrubbers which require much space, are fitted on big 12,000-TEU plus ships. But Rickmers's 2020seaways aims to find a niche for carriers seeking environmental solutions for feeder ships.The gearless ships - dubbed ECO16 - are designed by ABH of Germany and have a shallow scantling draft of 7.70 metre, which analysts from Alphaliner observed in their latest weekly report make them suitable for serving Kolkata hence the alternative name, Benglalmax, for the design.
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The new Hamburg company is headed by former Rickmers Maritime Trust CEO Soren Andersen, with Rickmers' son, Rickmer Clasen Rickmers, also involved.
Data from MarineTraffic shows the brand new green-hulled Spirit of Chennai left Fuzhou on Sunday as an extra loader from China to the US east coast.
The ship is the first in 10 that Rickmers has on order at Fujian Mawei Shipyard to be operated by 2020seaways, a Bertram Rickmers vehicle controlled by his new Hamburg company, Asian Spirit Steamship Company.
The ship will shortly be joined by the Spirit of Kolkata, both of which have been taken on charter for two years by MSC with an option to extend by a year.
The ships are hybrid scrubber fitted, and have commanded a healthy US$12,500 a day for the first two years, rising to $14,000 if they go for a third year.
The scrubber premium Rickmers has been able to extract from MSC is 45 per cent higher than for equivalent tonnage without a scrubber.
Mostly, scrubbers which require much space, are fitted on big 12,000-TEU plus ships. But Rickmers's 2020seaways aims to find a niche for carriers seeking environmental solutions for feeder ships.The gearless ships - dubbed ECO16 - are designed by ABH of Germany and have a shallow scantling draft of 7.70 metre, which analysts from Alphaliner observed in their latest weekly report make them suitable for serving Kolkata hence the alternative name, Benglalmax, for the design.
WORLD SHIPPING