A Swedish shipping group which operates to Irish ports, has returned to a shipyard in The Netherlands to build more tankers and also dry-cargoships, writes Jehan Ashmore

Erik Thun AB which has a fleet of almost 50 vessels using four categories including tankers has placed an order for 8 newbuilds at Ferus Smit's Dutch yard.

The contract is for four 7,999 dwt coastal tankers with a Ice Class 1B design and four multi-purpose dry cargo vessels of 5,100 dwt.

The coastal tankers of 114m length overall (LOA) and a beam of 15.87 will add to the two previously ordered resource efficient ’R-class’ coastal tankers as Afloat reported last year.

The focus on this class with cargo tank capacity of about 9,540 m3, is to be the most resource efficient vessels within their trade and have a minimal environmental impact.

All the vessels will be built by Scheepswerf Ferus Smit BV in Westerbroek and delivery is scheduled for between 2024 and 2027.

The new orders according to the shipyard will maintain continuity during these challenging times.