#Ports&Shipping - Arklow Wave became the first of a quartet of new enlarged versions of ships to be launched at a German shipyard, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Launching of Arklow Wave (no. 447) took place last Friday at Ferus Smit Leer GmbH, for owners Arklow Shipping Ltd with the newbuild to be Irish flagged. The christening occasion involved the customary sideways launch of the newbuild, where the port side of Arklow Wave made contact first with the water.

Leadship Arklow Wave is an enlarged version of the 8,500dwt ships that the shipyard delivered to ASL in the past in which Afloat has identified as the 'B' ship named class (see below). In comparison with these vessels, the newbuilds will have around twice the cargo capacity at almost 16,000dwt. As for the powerplant, a 3840kW main engine will be equipped to achieve low fuel consumption.

The newbuild features a bulbless straight-stem bow design to reduce wave friction, likewise of the predecesors which began with Arklow Beacon in 2014. A final sixth sister of the B class, Arklow Brave was completed the following year.

Ferus Smit's yard in Leer, is a city located in Lower Saxony, on the river Leda which is a tributary of the river Ems. The river flows into the Ems Estuary which shares the border with the Netherlands, where Afloat has previously reported on other Arklow newbuilds taking sea trails based out of Delfzijl.

Below are some main design details about Arklow Wave and sisters.

– Main dimensions (Loa X B X T) 149.50 X 19.25 X 8.59 mtr.
– 16500 DWT, 700.000 cft hold volume.
– Iceclass 1A with 3840kW main engine.
– 2 box shaped holds.
– Propeller equipped with a duct for enhanced thrust at lower speeds and reduction of maximum installed propulsion power.

According to the shipyard, delivery of Arklow Wave is scheduled for October.