Displaying items by tag: Swedish Lake based

8th December 2018

Evolving 'E' Class for Erik Thun Tankers: Swedish Lake Based Owners of Fleet Often Call to Dublin Port

Leadship of the E-Class, Thun Eos (No. 443) belongs to a new series of (LNG) powered oil/chemical tankers developed for Swedish operator Erik Thun AB. The vessel launched earlier this year is to be followed by a sister (next Saturday) with christening of Thun Evolve at Ferus Smit's Dutch yard, though through its second shipyard in Leer, Germany, is where Arklow Wave (No. 447) was launched, see Ports & Shipping (3rd Sept).

#DublinPort - A Swedish tanker operator that is a regular client of Dublin Port, through for example Thun Gratitude, which had anchored in the bay, having typically loaded in Milford Haven, Wales, departed the Irish capital yesterday, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Owners of this tanker are Erik Thun AB, based in Lidköping situated on the southern shore of Lake Vänern, the third largest lake in Europe, which is connected to the sea by shipping canals. Through a subsidiary, Thun Tankers which is a major player in the northern Europe market, is to recieve a newbuild of 7,999dwt that is to join the fleet next weekend when christened ‘Thun Evolve’. The ceremony is to take place with launching of (No. 444) at the Scheepswerf Ferus Smit B.V. (shipyard) in Westerbroek, The Netherlands.

This second E-Class vessels follows leadship Thun Eos (No. 443), a new series of liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered oil/chemical tankers developed for Erik Thun AB. The LNG fuelled newbuild has a pressurized tank that is installed on the vessels tank deck. The newbuild pair are an evolution of existing G-class, that focuses on eﬀiciency, environmental footprint and customers’ needs.

The Erik Thun Group has been in the private shipping business since 1938 under ownership of the Källsson family, which has always been based in Lidköping with a head office in The Hamngatan (harbour street) where shipowning activities can be traced to the 1850s.

Today, Erik Thun Group operate and own some 40 vessels (incl, below MV Ireland), ranging between 4,000 to 10,500 tons deadweight and divided into four categories. The majority of the fleet however are mainly conventional coastal dry cargo vessels, self unloading vessels, cement carriers and as alluded product tankers, but they are also involved in other business sectors including aviation.

Returning to shipping interests, Thun Evolve which among its green credentials, features a fuel efficient hull complete with an eco-canoe bow design. As for cargo capacity, this totals 9540m3 cubic volume and is spread across 9 coated cargo tanks, suited for MARPOL and IMO type II chemical cargoes.

According to Ferus Smit, the principle dimensions of the newbuild sees a 114.95m (length overall) with a 15.87 beam and a design draft of 6.95m. An Ice classification will be a 1A FS, which permits operating year-round operations on Baltic Sea services. Propulsion will be derived from a 2999kW Wartsila 6L34DF main engine.

Further research by Afloat reveals that the Thun Tankers fleetlist is to be increased with a further pair of E-Class sisters, which are due for delivery in 2020 and 2021.

Another pair, albeit cement carriers, M.V. Ireland is notably one of the first dry cargo vessels in the world fuelled by LNG which was launched in 2016 (see video) and preceeded by elder sister M.V. Greenland. Likewise of Thun Eos, they were launched at Ferus Smit's Dutch yard.

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Competitions

The most significant events for the Half Ton Class has been the annual Half Ton Cup which was sailed under the IOR rules until 1993. More recently this has been replaced with the Half Ton Classics Cup. The venue of the event moved from continent to continent with over-representation on French or British ports. In later years the event is held biennially. Initially, it was proposed to hold events in Ireland, Britain and France by rotation. However, it was the Belgians who took the ball and ran with it. The Class is now managed from Belgium.