The run of vessels making their first visits to this harbour continues for the rest of this year with Hanjin Bombay and SJN Nordic visiting the upper harbour and BC San Francisco calling at Port Chalmers.
Operated by the Hanjin Shipping Co, of Seoul, Hanjin Bombay was built at Ulsan by the Hanjin Heavy Industries yard. It has been in service since February 1995. The 16,252gt, 27,209dwt, 14-knot motor ship is one of a series of bulk/lumber carriers represented here previously by other units of the Hanjin fleet, as well as those operated by Pan Ocean Shipping. It will be the last log ship for the year, and after loading some cargo at Dunedin, will complete loading at Port Chalmers.
Sea Glory berthed at Dunedin last week to load logs and will also complete loading at Port Chalmers. This ship is now no stranger to the port. Here for the first time on October 19, 2002, it discharged phosphate, then loaded logs, a pattern followed on its next two calls. And on its fourth visit, on July 15 this year, the ship again loaded logs.
This 18,093gt Liberian-flag vessel is owned by Log Carriers Navigation Inc, a company linked to the Lihai International Shipping Co, of Hong Kong. It was completed in May 1997 as Hai Chang but was renamed later that year.
The ship is also one of a series seen here that came from the Hudong Shipyard at Shanghai.
More Chinese-built vessels are now turning up here. Sea Glory shifted berths last week to allow Florijngracht to discharge wind-farm equipment at Leith wharf. As mentioned last week, this vessel was only completed on September 30 by the Jiangsu Changbo yard at Jinjiang.
SJN Nordic, which berthed yesterday, has been in service a little longer. It was completed at Nantong on April 14 by the Nantong Jinghua Shipbuilding Company. This 22,409gt, 35,053dwt bulk carrier, owned by Nordic Visby Schiff and managed by Nordic Hamburg Shipmanagement, is interesting as it is registered at Douglas, Isle of Man.
Today, Vega Gotland makes its 85th and final visit to Port Chalmers. The 9957gt, 1118teu vessel has been calling here since August 2, 2006, on the transtasman link. It was delivered to Vega Reederei, of Hamburg, by the Kouan Shipbuilding Industry, of Taihou, on January 25, 2006.
The ship leaves here for Tanjung Pelepas today for employment in another service. Vega Gotland is registered at St Johns and sails under the flag of Antigua and Barbuda.
Its replacement, which also flies this flag, is the similar-sized BC San Francisco. It is due tomorrow to take over. This 9956gt vessel was laid down by the CSC Jiandong Shipyard at Wuhu on December 21, 2004. Launched on April 15, 2006, it was delivered to Ernst Russ, of Hamburg, on September 14, 2006. It was renamed when taken over by another Hamburg firm, Gebr Winter, nine months ago.
Silver Lake, back on its second visit for logs a few days ago, is another interesting Chinese-built visitor. The 20,428-tonne ship was the first of eight ordered by Pacific Basin from the Jiangmen Ship Engineering Co in Quangdong Province.
This vessel, launched on January 28, 2008, and delivered six months later, was ordered on December 8, 2005, when the yard was still in its planning stages. It did not start operations until June 2006. The yard was built on the site of a shrimp and fish farm known as the Silver Lake area. So, appropriately, Pacific Basin named the first ship to be built there after it.
Regarding Chinese shipbuilding, a recent report states that a wave of consolidation will sweep the industry in the next few years and could result in 30% of existing players disappearing. China, with an order book of 190m dwt, has 180 shipyards. South Korea has 25 and Japan 56.
