World Bunkering >Articles > Ship design > Flexible Design

While the economic downturn may have dampened bunker demand for a while there is still, in many areas of the world, a need for new bunker barges. Double-hull vessels are required to replace single-hull ships under IMO’s Marpol regulations and some owners are taking advantage of the availability of standard design tankers to meet their needs.

Recently the Turkish shipbuilder Çiçek Shipyard delivered the 3,087 dwt double-hull tanker Frecciamare to the Italian shipowner Ciane Anapo Spa. Based in one of Italy’s major ports, Augusta, on the east coast of Sicily, Ciane Anapo is part of the Novella Group, headed by Marco Novella, and specialises in coastal tanker and bunker operations. It also supplies fuel in Genoa.

Frecciamare was named Chem Flower when completed; the first of four identical vessels now being built by Çiçek Shipyard for its associated shipowning company White Tulip Shipping, based in Malta. White Tulip then sold Chem Flower to Ciane Anapo shortly after completion, leaving Çiçek to make some minor modifications to meet the new owner’s requirements.

Although Ciane Anapo intends to use this first vessel for bunkering duties, the four ships are claimed to have an extremely flexible design; capable of worldwide trading, transporting oil products, chemicals (IMO type II) and vegetable, animal and fish oils.
MarineLine coatings were selected by Çiçek to give the ability to carry a wide range of cargoes while high manoeuvrability, something of particular relevance to bunkering operations, is achieved by twin azimuthing propellers and a bow thruster. The vessels are classed by Bureau Veritas and constructed to meet Ice B standards.

Demand despite recession

According to Berke Çiçek, vice president of Cicek Shipyard, interest from European owners for such vessels is strong, despite the overall weak state of the shipping market. He explained: “New double-hulled vessels such as Frecciamare and her three sisters now under construction are in great demand to replace older tonnage, and because we took the initiative to start construction to our own account, the new owners have benefited from an extremely short delivery period. We are talking to a number of other potential owners and charterers and are confident of finding buyers who can secure immediate and profitable employment for these vessels.

“We were interested to see that Frecciamare’s owner, Ciane Anapo, envisages employing its new vessel in the bunker trades, as we had identified this market as particularly attractive. Many bunker tankers are still single-hull and quite elderly. There is a replacement market and there is also a requirement for larger vessels like ours since average ship sizes continue to grow. Large containerships, for example, take on board substantial amounts of bunkers and they also expect a fast rate of delivery.”

Flexible shipyard

Çiçek continued: “For the next three vessels, we are able to offer late changes in specification, for example in the choice of tank coatings, thus providing great flexibility when discussing potential charterers’ precise requirements. We are, with due notice, able to make more radical changes, as might be requested by owners with specific employment in mind.” Cicek Shipyard, located in Tuzla Bay, has two slipways and a panamax-sized building dock.

Construction of vessels in the building dock began in 2006. The first and still the only such facility in Turkey, it is served by a 300 tonne gantry crane and has already been used to construct four IMO II chemical tankers. The building dock is currently being extended to 250m in length.

Construction of smaller ships takes place on two slipways. The larger one is 160m in length and is served by a 200-tonne gantry crane. A smaller slipway suitable for building coastal vessels is currently being used for the construction of four 3,100 dwt IMO II chemical tankers.