September 12 - The official steel cutting ceremony has taken place in Shanghai for Atlantic Container Line's five G4 container / ro-ro carriers (CONRO), marking the beginning of actual construction.
Since confirming the planned construction of the vessels in August 2012 - reported by HLPFI in a news item posted on August 13, 2012 - Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding (HZS) has been busy with design work and tank testing.
The ceremony took place at Hudong Zhonghua's new construction facility on Chungxing Island near Shanghai. ACL's president and ceo, Andrew J. Abbott, and Henrik Karle, vice president of marine operations, were present, together with Grimaldi Group's Paolo Satariano, corporate technical director, and Pierluigi Marmo, new buildings project manager.
ACL has appointed Registro Italiano Navale (RINA Services S.p.A) and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) to provide statutory classification services for the G4 construction during the vessels' assembly.
The G4 vessels will have a container capacity of 3,800 teu plus 28,900 sq m of ro-ro space, with a car capacity of 1,307 vehicles. There will be a 10 percent increase in speed, but a 50 percent reduction in fuel consumption per teu, says ACL.
All five vessels will be delivered in 2015, with the first scheduled for delivery at the end of January, 2015.
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