#ShipLaunch - Ships godmother, Mrs Mari Louise de Jong performed the christening naming ceremony of Arklow Vale on Friday at Royal Bodewes ‘Jachtwijk’ yard in Hoogezand, the Netherlands, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Arklow Vale with a building number of 721 is the first of 10 in a series of 5,100dwat Bodewes Traders on order from Arklow Shipping. The new series of cargoships will continue to use vessel names beginning with the letter 'V' (see below).

The most striking features of this Bodewes Trader series are the distinctive design of an energy-saving bow form with a straight-stem.

As previously reported on Ports & Shipping, was the operation to join the fore and aft sections of Arklow Vale (see, above the excellent video 'in full screen' mode that includes the launch). The yard is located in the province of Groningen bordering Germany.

The completed hull has a 221,000 cb ft capacity and a gross tonnage just under 3, 000. Another moment that captures when the hull slipped off the stocks is by clicking here

The launch of the newbuild marks the transition from old to new as an elder trio of 4,950dwt general cargoships that dated from 1990 were all disposed in July. This previous generation also had the same ‘V’ class naming nomenclature.

More on the old 'V' class ships are also featured in the current edition of Ships Monthly magazine (Nov. issue). A photo of Arklow Viking is seen on her final day working under ASL colours at Dublin Port.