The contract had been signed on 14 March 2020, but the worldwide lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the final board approval at the owners’ end. The contract will now take effect from September 2020.
Misje Eco Bulk is a fully owned subsidiary of Kåre Misje & Co., a family owned Norwegian firm, that acts as a holding company for a group of companies that provide a complete package of services from chartering and operation to technical and financial management.
Each of these vessels will be 89.95 metres in length, and have a cargo capacity of 5,000 dwt. The type of cargo they could carry includes all kinds of bulk cargo, grain, timber, unit loads and containers.
The ships are powered by a four-stroke diesel engine with an electric hybrid system supplying additional power through a battery system. The vessels are eco-friendly, as they have substantially lower emissions compared to conventional bulk carriers of the same size.
The concept and the basic design of the innovative bulk carriers were developed by Wartsila Ship Design Norway, while the detailed designing will be carried out by CDPLC.
The first vessel of the series is scheduled to be delivered in 18 months, and the subsequent vessels will be delivered at four-monthly intervals. The shipowner has retained the option of ordering an additional four eco bulk carriers.
“Amidst the negative impact from last year’s Easter Sunday bombing incident, and currently facing the Covid-19 pandemic, it showcases the successful marketing efforts carried out by us in a challenging environment,” says CDPLC’s managing director D V Abeysinghe.
CDPLC has been targeting the European market extensively, especially for the construction of eco-friendly bulkers, cable laying and repairing vessels and service operation vessels, which are in demand.
“We have also been looking at providing engineering services to overseas clients,” says Abeysinghe. “We have shipbuilding experience of over 45 years, plus the capacity and an excellent design office for detail engineering. We hope to float an engineering subsidiary soon, and solicit clients; some of them have already been contacted in Europe and Japan.”
Listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange, CDPLC is 35% owned by Sri Lankan government institutions, and boasts a technical collaboration arrangement with Japan’s Onomichi Dockyard Co.
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