Rickmers Hamburg

Combining a specialization in project and heavy-lift freight with long experience in liner-type service, Hamburg-based Rickmers-Linie has opened a major new stage of fleet development entailing nine ships of the Superflex Heavy MPC (multipurpose container carrier) designation.

First-of-class Rickmers Hamburg is every inch the modern maid-of-all-work, offering a 640-ton unit lift capacity along with a variable hold space configuration suited to the widest range of breakbulk and conventional cargoes as well as large, indivisible items of freight. The 30,000-dwt Superflex series is due to extend to nine ships before the end of next year, with construction having been distributed among three yards in China.

The Rickmers-Linie program entails five vessels from Xiamen Shipyard and two from Jinling Shipyard, plus the Rickmers Hamburg and a sistership from Shanghai Shipyard. The five-hold design is fitted with four, high-stooled deck cranes, two of which have a 320-ton maximum lift capacity, while one is rated at 100-tons and other at 45-tons. By using the two largest units in tandem, piece weights up to 640-tons can be handled.

The hatchway layout provides openings up to 105 ft. (32 m) in length and 34 ft. (10.3 m), accessing holds fitted with adjustable tweendecks. The below-deck arrangements mean that the hold spaces can be highly compartmentalized using three flexible tweendecks, or can be configured to give various hold heights up to 15.7-m in accordance with cargo needs, making for optimum space utilization.