Symphony has granted Ferus Smit Shipyards the order for building two new ECOBOX XL project cargo vessels.
The ships will be an evolution of the successful ‘Ecobox’ and ‘Ecobox DP’ series (image in header) that the yard already delivered to Symphony over the recent years.
The cooperation between Symphony and Ferus smit started in 2013 with the jointly development and building of 6 Ecobox ships. This first series comprised a 10.500 dwt geared cargo vessel with one single fully box shaped hold. The ships have the open top notation, with a deckhouse placed forward to give shelter to the hold and deck cargoes against severe weather conditions, and enabling oversize deck cargoes to be loaded over the stern. Later also a dynamic positioning version of the design was developed as ‘Ecobox DP’, of which two more ships were delivered to Symphony.
The new ECOBOX XL design will have its focus on loading extra long items, such as windmill blades, while at the same time still maintaining her good capabilities as a normal general cargoship. The modifications in design and systems are also aimed to further enhance her excellent ‘green’ performance with a reduction of her EEDI-score to a new class reference standard.
Therefore the original ecobox design will be lengthened by more than 21 mtr, extending her box shaped hold to more than 100 mtr length on the tanktop, and 112 mtr above the movable tweendeck level.
The new ships will be 18 mtrs wide, enhancing her cargo deadweight further, and maintaining here flexibility of loading while keeping a very low resistance on both flat water and in waves.
Fuel consumption will be further reduced by integrating a novel ORC waste heat generator in the propulsion system. This system further consists of a 3300 kW main engine driving a nozzled controllable pitch propeller running in fully automatic combinator mode. The fuel system will also be suitable for bio blend fuels.
The characteristics of the new ECOBOX XL ships will be as follows:
- Maximum loading capacity abt. 12.500 DWT;
- Large floor space for project cargoes, including complete movable tween deck, cargo length 100 mtr on tanktop and 112 mtr on tweendecks;
- Two cargo cranes;
- Open top notation;
- Iceclass 1A;
- Deckhouse placed on fore ship for better protection of deck cargo and enabling to load oversized items over the stern.
- The Ferus Smit bulbless Canoe type bow, designed to reduce fuel costs and better sustained speed with excellent sea keeping behavior in harsh weather and sea state conditions;
Tier III, Green Passport; - ORC waste heat generator installed for further reduction of fuel consumption and ultra low EEDI.
The new ECOBOX XL ships are planned for delivery end of 2022/early 2023.