January 14 - RollDock, the Dutch heavy lift shipping company launched a couple of years ago, has taken delivery of the first of the innovative new ships that it has on order at L&T Shipping in India.
When the order for four, plus two, newbuilds was originally placed in 2006, it marked the formal launch of L&T's venture into shipbuilding, with the vessels being built at a new shipyard that forms part of the L & T's engineering complex at Hazira, Surat.
RollDock has advised HLPFI that RollDock Sun has been handed over by the yard to RollDock Shipping B.V. last Friday (8 January) and immediately sailed from Mumbai to the Far East to execute a number of contracts.
Sister ships, RollDock Sea, RollDock Sky and RollDock Star will follow over the next 14 months
The newbuilds are identical multi-functional heavy transport vessels, which will be able to achieve a service speed of 18 knots when fully loaded. Their shallow draft characteristics will allow the ships to call at ports with limited water depths.
Each vessel has three loading modes - lo-lo; ro-ro and flo-flo - and will be equipped with two heavy lift cranes each of 350 tonnes lift capacity each, or 700 tonnes lift capacity when working in tandem. The open hold nature of the vessels allows very high cargoes to be handled.
