German shipping firm takes delivery of new product tanker

German shipping firm takes delivery of new product tanker

On Friday, 2 March 2007, the product tanker ST. MARIEN was delivered in Busan (South Korea) by STX Shipbuilding. Rudolf A. Oetker KG (RAO), a member of the Hamburg Süd Group, took over the vessel from owners Parakou Shipping, Hong Kong, under a long term charter. On the same day - after taking vegetable oils on board in Indonesia - the newbuilding embarked on its positioning voyage, which will take the vessel to Europe.

Prior to this, on 26 January 2007, a world first was celebrated in Busan, when the ST. MARIEN together with sister ship ST. JOHANNIS - also chartered in by RAO - and two further product tankers, became part of a fourfold christening.

The ST. MARIEN and ST. JOHANNIS are 51,300 tdw tankers and meet current safety and environmental standards. They have a length of 183 metres, are 32.2 metres wide and capable of transporting up to six different products - from crude oil and heating oil to aviation fuel and edible oil - in their coated cargo tanks.

With these vessels, RAO is continuing a tradition that dates back to the 1960s, that of naming its product tankers after Hamburg churches. Among the 13 units currently under charter, there are 12 "church ships", which, with the exception of the ST.MARCO (here Venice's most celebrated church lent its name), are all named after Hamburg churches. The only charter vessel that RAO has not named after a church is the LEPTA MERMAID.

(Photo shows the two 51,300 tdw product tankers ST. MICHAELIS and ST. GABRIEL christened in November 2005 at STX)