ContainersEurope

NSB debuts novel looking boxship

German shipowner NSB Group has developed a new look boxship design.

The LNG-powered 3,500 teu container vessel has a reefer intake of about 940 feu.

The deckhouse on the forecastle deck optimises the container capacity and separates the accommodation from the IMO Type C LNG tanks, carrying gas for about 5,000 nautical miles under full reefer load, on the poop deck. In addition to the IMO Type C Tanks, an MGO tank is considered as back up in case of LNG shortage.

NSB has a history of developing boxship novelties such as its work on widening existing panamax boxships.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.

Comments

  1. I never sailed on a vessel with accommodation in the bow but wonder how the extra movement there, affects the living/sleeping patterns of the crew. I appreciate that there are plenty of this type of vessel around these days but have not heard of any seafarers experience/thoughts on living there, when compared with the more common 3/4 aft accommodation block.

  2. I find this amusing.

    I’ve been piloting a number of US Flag / built ships with forward houses for 27 years. It may be a novel thing to many Europeans, but not for those of us working in the Pacific. Some of the most beautiful American ships that were ever built with real lines that made them functional and aesthetically pleasing to look at … had an accommodation house on the bow.. There are sensible reasons to place the house on the bow, as articulated here in this piece. To those who wonder what the ride is like I would say, it depends on the run of the ship and the cargo she carries that determines how she rides it out.

    Many people (non-mariners) always scoff at these old US steamships that ran for years, the workhorses of the Pacific. There are about four left that I still handle routinely. Two of them are 275meters long with houses on the bow. One will soon be converted to a twin diesel/single screw ship with LNG as her fuel. Her hull is rock solid. As they say … “They don’t build them like that anymore”

    Finally, it wasn’t long ago that some Japanese Naval Architects released a study (and consequently a new design) that a house forward ship with soft, rounded lines actually had less windage and saved on fuel consumption. Really? Amazing that this was a “new” discovery!

Back to top button