Danube-max lpg carrier has German origins

摘要

With a cargo capacity of 8,525m~3, the lpg carrier Gaschem Baltic is the largest of the five gas carriers built so far by Romania's Severnav yard and, when delivered in February, it was also the largest ship yet built by the yard and the largest in the gas carrier fleet of Leer/ Germany-based Hartmann Reederei. In 1998/99, the shipyard in Dobreta Turnu-Severin delivered three 4,360m~3 units of the Danubegas type, which were followed by the 3,500m~3 capacity Saargas in 2001. But the genesis of the Gaschem Baltic began 15 years ago, when Edinburgh-based operator Geo Gibson took delivery of the state-of-the-art ethylene carrier Teviot from Brand Werft in Oldenburg/Germany. The old-established German builder - which delivered its first pioneering gas tanker in 1961 - was at that time given a new lease of life by a series of five similar newbuildings for employment in the Unigas, Norgas and Igloo pools. Three of those vessels, Chemtrans Christian, Gaschem Tana and and Gaschem Bergen, are now employed by the Hamburg-based GasChem-Gasmare pool, of which Hartmann is a member. When the Leer-based company decided to extends its lpg fleet, it settled on an up-dated version of the original design.