Double Naming Ceremony for Stena Bulk at GSI
Stena Imperator with her sister Stena Imprimis side by side (Photo: Stena Bulk)
Godmother Ylva Syrén Carlsson, Stena Imperator (Photo: Stena Bulk)
Godmother Denise Baum, Stena Imprimis (Photo: Stena Bulk)
Stena Imperator with her sister Stena Imprimis side by side (Photo: Stena Bulk)
Two newly built vessels owned by Stena Bulk, Stena Imperator and sister ship Stena Imprimis, were named side by side at the Chinese shipyard Guangzhou Shipbuilding International (GSI) in Guangzhou in southeast China.
The two godmothers – for the Stena Imperator, Ylva Syrén Carlsson and for the Stena Imprimis, Denise Baum – wished the vessels, their captains and crews fortune and prosperity on the seven seas and swung the bottles of champagne against the tankers’ bows.
The two vessels are numbers 11 and 12 in a series of 13 IMOIIMAX tankers ordered by Stena Bulk, the last of which will be delivered in January 2018.
“It was a spectacular sight with the two sister tankers beside each other and the somewhat unusual situation as such made the naming ceremony a bit special and extra festive. We are now approaching the final delivery of our large order consisting of 13 IMOIIMAX tankers. We are very proud of and satisfied with our fleet, which now consists of 10 units in operation. Both the technical and the commercial concept have proved to be very successful,” said Erik Hånell, President & CEO, Stena Bulk.
IMOIIMAX is a further development of an existing vessel concept, and the technical design was developed by Stena Teknik together with the GSI. It offers several advantages such as extra large cargo flexibility, a high level of safety and economical fuel consumption – 10-20 percent lower than that of equivalent vessels when sailing at service speed, according to the ship owner.
The tankers have a length of 183 meters, a beam of 32 meters and a deadweight of 50,000 tons.
The captain on board the Stena Imperator is Mikhail Kutuzov, and Alexey Vaganov will serve as captain on board the Stena Imprimis. The Stena Imperator will be delivered next week, and the delivery of the Stena Imprimis is expected to take place in about two months. On her maiden voyage, the Stena Imperator will sail with a cargo of vegetable oil to Papa New Guinea and then to Rotterdam. The two tankers will be operated by Stena Bulk’s Product and Chemical Operation and will sail in its global logistics system, which currently employs some 60 vessels.
