This year, Leith wharf has been used on 10 occasions by vessels loading logs. Two more log ships are due there before the end of the year. However, in a few days' time, it will also be occupied by the brand-new, Chinese-built Florijngracht, which will discharge the first shipment of wind farm equipment to be handled in the upper harbour.
It is also interesting to note that the ship is coming from the port of Phu Me (pronounced Foo Me), the gateway to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Incidentally, the first shipment of wind turbine components to arrive here, at Port Chalmers on January 18, 2009, came as deck cargo on the 17,025gt Maritime Coaction, a vessel that also happened to be on its maiden voyage.
Florijngracht is the first of eight F-class vessels ordered by Spliethoff BV, of Amsterdam, a company founded by Johan Frederik Spliethoff in 1921. The company manages and owns a sizeable fleet of smaller, versatile multipurpose vessels that are engaged in worldwide trading. All the ships are named after canals (grachts).
The newcomer is a vessel of 8620gt and 12,500dwt. It has an overall length of 136.50m, a moulded breadth of 18.90m and a loaded draught of 8.515m.
A six-cylinder, 7383bhp diesel supplied by Wartsila Finland Oy gives the vessel a service speed of 14 knots. The ship's two holds, each with a hatch size of 31.74m x 15.80m, are served by three cranes, each with a SWL (safe working load) of 80 tonnes. The vessel also has a container capacity of 658 teu, including 120 reefer units, with 296 boxes being carried in the holds and the remainder on deck.
Florijngracht was built at Jinjiang by the Jiangsu Changbo Shipbuilding Company. Laid down as Yard No 06-040 on September 3, 2008, the vessel was launched on April 16, 2009, and completed on September 30, 2010. Founded as a ship-repair yard in 1970, Jiangsu Changbo turned to shipbuilding in the 1990s.
Units of the Spliethoff fleet are not seen here that often. First to call, the 2391gt Kielgracht, built in 1984, loaded bone meal at Dunedin for Indonesia in July, 1985. The next to turn up, in April, 1995, the 6037gt 1989-built Lootsgracht, loaded sawn timber at Port Chalmers. In January, 1997, the 5974gt Paleisgracht, dating from 1985, berthed at Dunedin to unload electrical equipment.
The only other visitors were the 8448gt sister ships Egmondgracht and Egelantiersgracht, both built in 1994. The former was in and out at Ravensburne on August 16, 2006, with phosphate. But the sister attracted more attention when it was in and out of Dunedin on March 10, 2008.
This vessel called to load the French-owned racing trimaran Groudama 3 and transport it back to France for repairs. The boat capsized off the Otago coast on February 18 after losing its port pontoon. It was later taken in tow by the locally owned Clan Macleod and brought to Dunedin, where it was righted in preparation for its voyage back as deck cargo on the Spliethoff vessel.
One sometimes ponders over the names chosen for vessels that have called here. Over the years, they have come from a diverse range of sources, with many following traditional company policies.
The log ship that sailed yesterday after making its first visit carries a name that is certainly different, King Sugar.
Another of the Imabari design, it is a new ship, laid down this year at the I/S Shipyard on April 7. This 17,025gt, 28,196dwt was launched on August 3 and delivered on September 17. It is registered at Panama to the ownership of Lucretia Shipping S.A, an associate of the Sentoku Senpaku Company, of Osaka.
