Rickmers takes delivery of its final two 13,100TEU container vessels

News Release Rickmers-Linie GmbH & CIE. KG (Head Office) June 24, 2011

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Another naming ceremony for two
13,100TEU container vessels being built for the Rickmers Group took place on 31
May at the Ulsan shipyard of
Hyundai Heavy Industries. TAURO RICKMERS and LIBRA RICKMERS are the final two
ships in an eight-ship series being built for the Hamburg shipowner for longterm charter to
Maersk Line. 
 
The two ships were
christened by family friends of Rickmers Group Chairman Bertram Rickmers. Mrs
Antoinette Zornig named TAURO RICKMERS while Mrs Elke Scharfe named LIBRA
RICKMERS.  
 
A Swiss citizen and a mother of seven
children, Mrs Zornig is married to Professor Dr Carsten Zornig of the
Israelite Hospital in Hamburg and is a supporter of both the board
of members of the French
School in Hamburg and the committee of Human Rights
Watch. Mrs Scharfe was born in Hamburg and lives now with her husband Rolf Scharfe in Hamburg Blankenese.
Here she can view passing traffic on the River Elbe, which will shortly include
the ships that she and Mrs Zornig christened. 
 
Mrs Scharfe established her
own non-profit association Hamburger Kinderwünsche in 2005. This organisation
cares for seriously ill children during their clinical treatment at the
University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. 
 
Following the ceremony, TAURO RICKMERS
was renamed MAERSK EVORA and sailed to Busan to commence loading for
Europe on Maersk’s AE2 service.
At the end of July, Hyundai is due to deliver LIBRA RICKMERS, which under the
name MAERSK ESSEX should start loading in Busan on 30 July, also for
Europe on the AE2
service.
 
The port rotation for the
AE2 service is:
 
Busan – Hakata – Dalian –
Xingang – Qingdao – Ningbo – Shanghai –Yantian – Tanjung Pelepas - Suez Canal
Container Terminal – Valencia - Rotterdam – Bremerhaven – Hamburg - Antwerp –
Felixstowe – Singapore – Busan.
 
With an overall length of 366m and a
beam of 48m, Rickmers’ eight 13,100TEU ships are not quite the largest
containerships being built today but have the flexibility of being able to
transit the Panama Canal once
the new locks are completed. 
 
Technical details
 
All eight ships in the series have been
built by Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Ulsan shipyard. 
 
The principal dimensions are as
follows:
 
Length
(oa):                
366     
 m
Length
(bp):                
350       m
Beam:                        
48.2    
 
m
Depth:            
           
29.85  
 m
Design
draft:              
14.5     
 m
Scantling
draft:           
15.5     
 m
Deadweight:
              
125,480   mt at 14.5m
                       
   
       
140,580  mt at
15.5m
 
Containers are carried
17-wide below deck and 19-wide on the hatchcovers. The maximum capacity of each
ship is 7,074TEU on deck and 6,018TEU below deck, making 13,100TEU in
total.  Based on a homogeneous container weight of 14 tonnes
per TEU, the maximum capacity is approximately 9,080TEU. Reefer plugs are
available for 800 x 40ft containers.
 
Each ship is powered by a
single Hyundai-Wärtsilä 12RT-flex96C main engine weighing over 2,000 tonnes and
developing 68,640 kW (MCR) at 102rpm and 61,776kW (NCR) at 98.5rpm. Five 2,700kw
diesel generators are installed.
 
Although designed for a
service speed of 24.33 knots, the flex-engines still achieve 21.5 knots at 60%
of the engine’s normal output but can also slow steam as 
required  under charterers’ current service patterns,
generating substantial fuel savings. By having this substantial speed reserve,
the ships can increase speed when necessary to maintain schedule integrity, an
important factor in a service industry. 
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