Corrib Shipping Group of Dundrum, Co. Dublin, has disposed of and introduced vessels to maintain the dry-cargo operator’s five-strong fleet, writes Jehan Ashmore.
Afloat became aware of the development after perusing the Irish ship management company website, which lists the new addition to the fleet that was recently renamed in the Netherlands.
The MS Tucana of 3,783 deadweight tons (dwt) transferred ownership to become the MV Berkborg. The short-sea trader is now part of the fleet that Corrib Shipping manages on behalf of the giant Dutch company Royal Wagenborg Shipping B.V. The newcomer, with an Ice Class ID notation, was launched as MS Tucana in 2008 by Dutch shipbuilder Damen Shipyards Bergum B.V., Bergum, to one of their Combi-Freighter designs.
Afloat awaits further details from the group and the fate of its predecessor, MV Ziltborg, which was the largest of the fleet, at 7,200 (dwt), and whose debut was reported in 2017 but is no longer part of the fleet. The ice-class 1A vessel had enabled it to trade laden with Boliden Tara mines' zinc exports to a harsh, ice-frozen Finnish port on the Gulf of Bothnia, an extension of the Baltic Sea.
With the MV Berkborg in service, Afloat tracked the Damen Combi-Freighter vessel in the same month of its transfer, having departed Monsteras, eastern Sweden, on 30 December, to where it arrived at Pasajes (Pasaia), northern Spain, in the new year on 8 January. The port on the Bay of Biscay is along the mountainous region of the Basque Country and neighbours San Sebastian.
MV Berkborg then made the short passage to Bayonne, France, from where it departed on 19 January through the English Channel for Hamburg, Germany, where it arrived on Sunday.
The short-sea trader, which retains its Dutch flag, has the following principal dimensions: Length overall (LOA) is 88.60 m, on a beam of 12.50 m and drawing a draught of 5.42 m. As for the cargo hold, it is also capable of carrying 188 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) sized containers.
The Combi-Frieighter's powerplant is an MaK 8M20C main engine with a power of 1,520 kW and generating a speed of 12.5 knots.
It joins the four dry-cargo ships, comprising the MV Cathma, MV Cathy Jo, MV Cora Jo (each approx. 6,000 dwt), and MV Jolyn (3,640 dwt), which together date from 2006 to 2008, the same year the newly introduced dry-cargo ship was built.
