March 20 - The China Navigation Company Pte Ltd (CNCo), the deep seashipping arm of the Swire group, has placed a order for four B.Delta37 handysize bulk carrier ships of 39,500 dwt each at Chengxi Shipyard Co. Ltd, Jiangyin, China, to be delivered betwee

"These vessels will be operated in CNCo's handysize bulkcarrier division in accordance with our vision to be the leading provider of sustainable shipping solutions and our customers' partner of choice", said Tim Blackburn, managing director of CNCo.

"We have specifically focused on selecting the most fuel efficient handysize bulkcarrier design available today, designed by Finnish Naval Architects, Deltamarin, to deliver the lowest cost per tonne mile of any similar sized handy bulkcarrier. CNCo has also used its own experience to improve performance in port, while delivering ground-breaking fuel efficiency at normal operating speeds", he claimed.

The ships have five double skin cargo holds and are designed to carry bulk cargoes, grain, coal, concentrates, heavy general cargo, steel coils, steel slabs and a wide variety of heavy project cargoes.

The tanktops are specifically strengthened for heavy cargoes and all holds have double skin hydraulic folding hatch covers and forced draft fans for cargo care. Four electric deck cranes are mounted on the centreline, each rated at 30 tonnes at maximum outreach of 26 m. All cranes can be combined for a maximum lift of 60 tonnes.

"We are delighted to have won this newbuilding order from China Navigation", said Ma Shixiong, managing director ofChengxi Shipyard. "We have developed expertise in building high specification bulkcarriers for other owners and are confident of building this highly economical handysize bulkcarrier on time and to China Navigation's high expectations", he added.

Founded in 1872, CNCo serves the dry commodity industry's ocean transportation and offshore logistics requirements in four distinct sectors which include shareholdings in C Bulk Carriers (CBC) (capesize and panamax bulkcarriers),Swire CTM Bulk Logistics (bulk transloaders), Mandarin Shipping (dry bulk ship investment) and the owned, controlled, managed and operated panamax transloader, Erawan.

In addition to eight 31,000 dwt MPP newbuildings due for delivery in 2013, CNCo operates 30 ships, of which 17 are owned and managed, deployed in its multi-purpose liner shipping services in the Asia Pacific region trading as Swire Shipping.

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