dship Carriers is expecting a new vessel, the F-500 type multipurpose vessel MV Ronnie. The vessel has just been launched at the yard and is designed to reduce fuel consumption and increase stowage flexibility. 

The MV Ronnie is the latest generation F-500 type vessel and part of a series of economic F-500 multi-purpose heavy lift vessels as part of dship Carriers’ fleet expansion program.

The vessels are optimized with a Becker Mewis Duct device and Becker Rudder leading to lower consumption further. The Becker Mewis Duct is an energy-saving device developed for full-form slower ships enabling either significant power savings at a given speed or, alternatively, the vessel to travel faster at a given power level.

According to Becker Marine Systems, “the duct consists of two strong fixed elements mounted on the vessel: a duct positioned in front of the propeller along with an integrated fin system. The duct straightens and accelerates the hull wake into the propeller and produces a net forward thrust. The fin system provides a pre-swirl to the ship wake which reduces losses in the propeller slipstream, resulting in an increase in propeller thrust at a given propulsive power.”

The MV Ronnie will become dships’ 15th vessel. The company’s fleet mostly consists of multipurpose vessels with a cargo capacity of about 12,500 tonnes and lifting capacities ranging from 240 to 500 tonnes.

Big shipment

dship Carriers was founded in 2014 by Thomas C. Press, who is also the owner and CEO of Deugro, and specializes in the transport of breakbulk, dry bulk and project cargo.

The company recently transported a 750-tonne Pile Installation Frame (PIF) for an offshore wind project measuring 33.5 by 33.5 by 29 metres. dships was contracted to ship the installation from Rotterdam to An Ping in Taiwan. The contract was awarded to the German carrier by Seaway 7.

This transport was executed by the dships’ newly acquired MV Bruce, which is also part of the newbuilding series. Due to the small footprint of the Pile Installation Frame (PIF) and the high load, a special load-spreading design with Heavy Lift Platforms (HLP) was developed for the hatch covers.

“The development of the overall stowing and sea fastening concept took several months and was conducted with the support of LOC Germany”, said superintendent Hauke Bindemann of dship. ”During the structural analysis, it was observed that the HLP would need to be re-enforced to withstand the potential acting forces during ocean transport.”

After the arrival of the cargo in An Ping, the final installation of the pin piles was executed by Seaway 7’s vessel Seaway Yudin.

“Constant communication with all parties involved was the key. We demonstrated our ability to handle projects like this during all stages of transport while delivering safety and defining logistics by offering solutions to fully comply with very high offshore standards and requirements given by our clients”, comments dships’ VP Lars Feller.