Recent years have witnessed a number of programs involving new series of versatile, omni-purpose ships targeted at the market for project cargoes and otherwise heavy or outsized items of freight. The multiple-vessel nature of the various fleet investment initiatives has meant that a capability for handling more difficult consignments is increasingly allied with a regular, scheduled service pattern or transportation system, rather than with a purely tramping function. To a degree, this is evocative of the situation years ago when certain cargo liners were equipped with special heavy-lift derricks. Combining a specialization in project and heavy-lift freight with long experience in liner-type service…