October 12 - Dutch shipping line Hartel Shipping has seen its latest vessel, Heenvliet, embark on its maiden voyage, further strengthening its Mediterranean and Black Sea services.
The 3,850 dwt Heenvliet brings to seven the number of ships operated by the 21-year old breakbulk and project cargo shipping line on time-charters.
Heenvliet's first cargo was 411 tonnes of sheet piling loaded in Antwerp, before a voyage taking in Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Rostock, Germany; Samsun, Turkey; Mariupol and Nikolaev, Ukraine.
Hartel Shipping & Chartering bv was founded in December 1990 by John Hartman and John Brobbel, both having more than 20 years of experience in chartering business. Hartman retired in early 2008 and the company is now fully owned by Brobbel.
The line started purely as brokering company, then after approximately five years it was noticed that there was a need of vessels between mainland Europe and the eastern Mediterranean able to handle project cargo.
