April 5 - Symphony Shipping has established a new chartering subsidiary in Hamburg, Germany, which will be headed up by owner's representative and chartering director, André Milschus.
Ex-Hansa Heavy Lift executive Milschus, who founded HBB Hanseatic Break Bulk in March last year, will be responsible for all chartering activities related to Symphony's two DP2 (dynamic positioning) vessels, currently under construction at the Ferus Smit shipyard in Leer, Germany.
The new ships will be equipped with a Kongsberg K-Pos 21 DP2 system serving two 1,200 kW tunnel thrusters and two 2,200 kW Schottel propulsion units. The ships will be used in cargo supply runs for offshore platforms, assisting pipe laying and cable laying operations, decommissioning and offshore wind component feedering.
Symphony expects the two ships - Symphony Performer and Symphony Provider - to go into service in December 2016 and April 2017 respectively.
As well as the DP2 vessels under construction, Symphony also has six 10,500 dwt multipurpose ships on order. Three have been delivered, while three more - Symphony Sun, Symphony Spirit and Symphony Space - are also under construction at the Ferus Smit shipyard.
HLPFI readers may recall that the three delivered newbuilds were initially chartered out to Danish shipping company Nordana, under the names Nordana Sky, Nordana Star and Nordana Sea.
Milschus explained that the "charter with Nordana is now over" and the three ships are currently under charter to Dutch shipping company Forest Wave Navigation, with the names Symphony Sky, Symphony Star and Symphony Sea.
Johnny Schmoelker, ceo of Nordana's holding company, confirmed that it is no longer operating the three Symphony ships, stating that the decision was "best for both parties".
The six general cargo vessels have an EcoBox design and are equipped with accommodation at the front of the ship, one 90 m cargo hold and two 85-tonne capacity cranes. All of the ships are classed for open hatch sailing. The next of the six ships is scheduled for delivery to the Symphony fleet in June of this year.
Milschus told HLPFI that Symphony set up the chartering subsidiary in Hamburg in order to market the two DP2 vessels itself. Although its three existing vessels are currently chartered out, he also noted that Symphony would eventually like to operate all of the ships itself.
