Dutch shipping company Symphony Shipping has ordered two new Ecobox Xl project carriers with Ferus Smit Shipyards. The vessels are designed with a focus on loading extra-long items like windmill blades and are scheduled for delivery in 2022 and early 2023. 

This is the third time Symphony has placed an order for these types of vessels with Ferus Smit. The cooperation started in 2013 with the joint development and building of 6 Ecobox ships. This first series comprised of a 10,500 dwt geared cargo vessel with one single, fully box-shaped hold. The ships have an open-top notation and the deckhouse is placed forward to give shelter to the hold and deck cargoes against severe weather conditions, as well as to enable oversize deck cargoes to be loaded over the stern.

The second order consisted of a DP version of the Ecobox, of which two more ships were delivered to Symphony. The new ships will be a further evolution of both of the previous series and will be called the Ecobox XL.

New Design

The new design is focused on loading extra-long items, such as windmill blades, while at the same time still maintaining good capabilities as a normal general cargo ship. The modifications in design and systems are also aimed to further enhance the green performance with a reduction of the EEDI-score to a new class reference standard.

Therefore the original Ecobox design will be lengthened by more than 21 meters, extending her box-shaped hold to more than 100 meters in length on the tanktop and 112 meters above the adjustable tweendeck level.

The new vessels will be 18 meters wide, enhancing her cargo deadweight further, and maintaining the flexibility of loading while keeping a very low resistance on both flat water and in waves.

Fuel consumption will be further reduced by integrating a novel ORC waste heat generator in the propulsion system. This system further consists of a 3300 kW main engine driving a nozzled controllable pitch propeller running in fully automatic combinator mode. The fuel system will also be suitable for bio blend fuels.

Management

At the moment it’s not clear who will manage the ships. The six Ecobox vessels from the first order are all managed by the Dutch shipping company ForestWave, while the two Ecobox DP vessels are managed by Symphony itself.