K Line has ordered another four car carrier newbuildings from domestic shipbuilders adding to four contracted in September.
As with the earlier orders they have been split between Shin Kurushima Dockyard and Japan Marine United Corporation.
The Japanese shipowner said deliveries are scheduled to start in 2015 and continue through the first quarter of 2017.
“By adding this series of eight new ships with better stability and better fuel efficiency, we continue to deliver improved efficiency while expanding our ability to handling a wider variety of cargo mix,” K Line said.
The series of eight car carriers will be the widest such vessels built to date with a beam of 37 meters with 7,500-unit capacity.
K Line had said previously that the length of the vessels is being kept at 200 meters to enable them to call at any port.
“We have spent a considerable length of time studying and investigating the most suitable next generation car carrier with shipyards,” Yoshiyuki Aoki, executive managing officer, of K Line’s car carrier sector said at the time of the first orders.
“We have appointed two shipyards and are adopting state of the art design in terms of fuel efficiency and flexibility on cargo handling that will be far better than our existing fleet”.
“The wider beam has come as a result of a series of simulation tests, exploring both better stability of the vessel and better fuel efficiency at the same time.”
Another technical point being addressed with these new ships is cargo loading equipment inside of the cargo hold and loading ramp in order to make them suitable for not only passenger cars but also other ro-ro cargoes.
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