On June 14, the christening ceremony of a Container Carrier, ordered by Baltic Container Shipping, took place at Aker Yards shipyard in Rauma. The vessel to be managed by Rederi AB TransAtlantic was christened as TransPaper by Marjatta Härmälä, spouse of Stora Enso s President and CEO Jukka Härmälä.
The vessel is the first in a series of three, the contract for which was signed on January 5, 2005. This NB 448 will be delivered in a few weeks, and the sister ships later this year. The contract is worth $189.4m.
The container carriers are intended to operate on the Gulf of Bothnia, between Kemi and Oulu in Finland, Gothenburg in Sweden and Lübeck in Germany. TransAtlantic and Stora Enso have a time charter agreement for the vessels to be carrying special SECU containers (Stora Enso Container Unit).
In addition, unitized cargo for other shippers will be carried.
The 13,800 dwt vessel is 625 ft. long, 85 ft. wide and can take 155 special-sized containers. The propulsion machinery of each vessel consists of two medium speed diesel engines, and catalytic exhaust emission control is installed.
In order to meet the challenging heavy ice conditions during the wintertime, the vessels will be built to the highest ice classification, 1A Super.