Ever Safety Launched in Japan

Ever Safety, the ninth of ten 7024 TEU S-series vessels being built for Evergreen in Japan, was launched today (June 5, 2007) at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Kobe shipyard. She was named by S S Lin (Lin Sun-san), Second Vice Group Chairman of the Evergreen Group, while the ceremonial rope cutting, sending the ship down the slipway, was performed by Mrs Shigemi Matsuda, the wife of Akira Matsuda, Senior Executive Vice President and Member of the Board of the Marubeni Corporation.

Due for delivery in October 2007, Ever Safety is scheduled to join Evergreen Line’s transpacific service. The eight earlier vessels are currently in the process of being transferred to Evergreen Line’s new China Europe Shuttle (CES) service that will offer a fast link between Asia and North Europe. The Evergreen Group is approaching the end of a shipbuilding program comprising 18 large post-Panamax containerships. Eight 8073TEU C-series are already in service and the S-series will be completed in the near future. The Evergreen Group’s S-series vessels are built to standards that exceed all national and international regulations regarding environmental protection.

The S-series vessels incorporate design features such as double-skinned hulls and fuel oil tanks located in protected locations within the transverse bulkhead spaces, thus minimizing the risk of oil pollution. A high capacity oily water separator enables the oil content of waste water to be reduced to just 15 ppm while much larger separated bilge oil and bilge holding tanks provide more storage capacity, enabling the vessels to avoid any discharge when sailing in sensitive areas and to maximize the amount of waste that can be held for ultimate disposal in specialized shore facilities. Similar arrangements have been made for handling sewage, grey water and cargo hold bilges when the vessels are in port or close to shore, while the ships also incorporate ‘cold-ironing’ – the ability to shut down all shipboard generators and switch to shore-based electricity supplies while in port.

With an overall length of 300 m and a beam of 42.8 m, the S-series vessels are able to carry containers 17 rows across on deck and 15 rows across below deck. They have a deadweight of 78,700 tons on a service draft of 14.2 m. Each vessel has a single 10-cylinder Mitsubishi Sulzer 10RTA96C main engine developing 74,700bhp (54,900KW) to provide for a service speed of 25.3 knots.