The keel-laying of the multipurpose deck cargo vessel, built for Oy Gaiamare Ab, was held at STX Turku Shipyard on Wednesday January 4, 2012. The NB 1379 is 105.4m long and 18.8m wide, and is scheduled to be delivered in spring 2012. Representatives of the customer Oy Gaiamare Ab, classification society Bureau Veritas, and STX Finland were present witnessing the keel-laying event.
The versatile vessel is designed for transportation of demanding and heavy project cargo, such as offshore wind farm structures. The ship is also very suitable for transporting energy wood in the Baltic Sea region, and she is also designed to operate as a flexible oil spill response vessel. This ice class 1A vessel is the first Double Acting Ship (DASTM) mode vessel on the Baltic Sea and she is also capable of running efficiently astern in ice.
"Construction of the vessel has advanced at the STX Turku shipyard according to plan. Cooperation with the client, the classification society and the network partners has worked very well," says Jari Anttila, Director of STX Turku Shipyard. "The ship's building schedule is extremely tight. The float-out will take place at the beginning of March and the sea trial will be conducted in April, after which the vessel will be finished for delivery," Anttila continues.
"The ship will be built for worldwide transportation and her versatile user characteristics are a good comple¬ment to Meriaura's present fleet," says Jussi Mälkiä, President of Meriaura Oy.