GERMAN SHIPBUILDING

GERMAN SHIPBUILDING: BOOST FROM BOXSHIPS

New orders for mid-sized container ships have unexpectedly bolstered east German yard fortunes this year -a year in which the biggest container ships ever built in the country have also rolled out of the halls. At the same time, demand for versatile smaller feeders has remained buoyant.

In late July, the A.P. Møller-owned Volkswerft in Stralsund reported an order book worth DM 800 million. It included nine container ships for delivery up to 2002--five of them VW 2500 series and the others 2,900 TEU vessels. Aker MTW said at the same time it had orders for 13 ships worth DM 1.45 billion, also for delivery up to 2002. All but two of those ships are 2500 class container ships. The illustration shows a Volkswerft CFV 600 M container feeder vessel.

Volkswerft booked four new orders in May, while Aker MTW reported six--four of them for NOL in Singapore--in June and July. In February Kvaerner Warnow Werft also booked two new orders for its own 2500 series. All the yards appeared confident that more such orders could be taken if the EU relaxed production quotas and allowed the former GDR yards to fully exploit the capacities of their modernized and efficient new facilities.

The success of east German yards in the medium-range boxship market has been nothing short of remarkable at a time when west German yards, without the investment benefits of the east Germans, have long since given up trying to beat Korean prices in conventional tonnage sectors.

One exception is TNSW in Emden which is still building 2500s for delivery this year and next.
The 2500 success story has been overshadowed only by the delivery, also this year, of the biggest boxships ever built in Germany-five 5,500 TEU newbuilds for P & O Nedlloyd of which three have come from KWW and two from Aker MTW. However they are likely to be the only ships of their size ever built there. Although the east Germans say they can build 2500s at cost-covering, world prices, they cannot underbid the Asians for the giants.

German yards in both east and west however continue to take orders for smaller feeder and container-carrying tonnage. The sector has stayed pretty buoyant sector and that appeared set to continue next year against a predicted rise in north European feeder business.
J.J.Sietas and Rolandwerft were among facilities which had, even as early as mid year, already booked follow-up orders for versatile feeder series of 700 TEU and above in 2001.
J.J.Sietas reportedly took orders in July from German owners for at least four 868 TEU, Type 168 container ships. Of 11,200 dwt, they are modified versions of the yard's successful 700 TEU Type 160 and the first is believed planned for delivery next April with the others following in May, June and August. Earlier this year Sietas completed three 658 TEU, Type 160A feeders for German and Dutch owners.

Rolandwerft will deliver two 8,700 dwt, 700 TEU container feeders next year to a Dutch owner. Modified versions of the yard's standard CF 700 feeders, they are for delivery next March and June. For delivery at the end of the year by Rolandwerft, which is part of the Hegemann Group, was a similar, geared 700 TEU feeder for a German owner. A further 700 TEU feeder for Unitas Shipping was also for delivery by year's end.

In east Germany, fellow Hegemann Group shipyard Peene-Werft was readying two 8,000 dwt, 698 TEU, multi-purpose tweendeckers for delivery November and December to a German owner.
Cassens Werft completed a series of three 712 TEU container feeders with the delivery of the last of the MSG CV 700 designs to a Dutch owner in July. They were modified versions of a design developed in the mid 1990s by the Mittelständige Serienschiffbau Gesellschaft (MSG), a group of local yards set up to pool development and building resources, cut costs and spread work. Five MSG CV 700s have since been sold, with the first two ships going to China.
In July Kröger Werft delivered another in its series of KWC 360 container carrying/multi-purpose cargo ships. The appropriately named 4,830 dwt, 370 TEU Millennium was the 14th ship in the series.

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