Cruise ships come flocking in February

February will prove to be an interesting month, with six newcomers calling from last week until later in the month.

It will also be recorded as a busy cruise-ship month with three calls at Dunedin by two smaller vessels, and 13 visits to Port Chalmers by eight larger ships.

Among them are first-time calling Arcadia and Saga Ruby, which I will deal with later.

Also adding a new name to local records is the former Regal Princess back for the first time as the renamed Pacific Dawn.

However, the cruise-ship tally for the month is down by one, following the cancellation last week of what would have been the fifth visit by the 20,606gt, 650-berth Astor.

This 1987-built vessel was last here in February 2006.

Hong Kong-flagged ID Black Sea, which arrived in Dunedin from the Indonesian port of Macassar last week to load scrap, is a relatively new ship.

It was laid down on January 31, 2009, launched on September 11 and delivered on October 30. The 17,018dwt 28,367 dwt bulk/lumber carrier is yet another product of the Imabari Shipbuilding Company, built at its Marugame shipyard.

Black Sea is owned by K/S Danskib 34, one of the single-vessel companies controlled by a Danish investment company based at Hellerup.

It has built up a fleet of handy-size bulkers by acquiring second-hand tonnage as well as ordering new ships in recent years.

First foreign-flag tanker for the year is the Singapore-registered Ocean Sedna, due later today.

Owned by Da Guang Tankers and operated by its Ocean Tankers Pte Ltd, it is the second unit of its fleet to call here.

Sister ship Ocean Venus was here in October 2007.

Both belong to a class of 11 sisters built for those interests between 2005-08 by the Shin-A Shipbuilding Company at Tongyong, South Korea.

Ocean Sedna, a 30,965gt, 50,400dwt chemical/product carrier, was laid down on October 13, 2004, launched on December 12, 2005, and handed over on February 27, 2006.

Another interesting visitor from China's shipbuilding industry, Beluga Evaluation, calls at Dunedin this week to load phosphate for Australia.

It is one of more than 50 vessels with the prefix Beluga in their names that are either owned or chartered by Beluga Shipping of Bremen.

Most sail under the flag of Antigua and Barbuda. This week's visitor is owned by Nicola Schiffahrtsges and managed by Reederei Gerd A Gorke of Hollern-Twielenfleth.

It is one of nearly 30 sisters in the Beluga fleet, each of 9611gt, that were built by several Chinese yards between 2004 and 2009.

Described as multipurpose vessels, they are strengthened to carry heavy cargoes up to 700TEU.

Designed for a service speed of 15 knots, they are powered by six-cylinder 5400kW diesels supplied by the Caterpillar works at Kiel.

The 12,705dwt Beluga Evaluation was constructed by Wuhan at the Qingshan shipyard of the China Changjiang Shipping group.

Keel-laying on December 29, 2004 was followed by launching on September 8, 2005 and completion on January 26, 2006.

Due next week to load logs, the Panamanian-registered Glorious Sunrise is another example of a standard Imabari design.

The 16,960gt, 28,441dwt vessel was launched on July 4, 2007 and completed on August 21, 2007 for the Ambitious Line SA.

This newcomer was built by the Shimanami Shipyard Company, the Hakata yard formerly known as the Watanabe Shipbuilding Company.

It was renamed after it joined the Imabari group in 2005.

Watanabe products that have called here in the past include four car carriers and some of the earlier log ships.