The John T. Essberger shipping company has put the first of four chemical tankers ordered in China into service. It will be christened next week.
The newbuilding is a chemical tanker with 16 stainless steel tanks. The “Liselotte Essberger”, which has an ice class 1A rating, is a good 116 m long, 18 m wide and is operated by a crew of 15. The ship (7,134 tdw) was built at China Merchants Jinling Shipyard in Yangzhou on the Yangtze.
The main propulsion system is a dual-fuel engine from MAN with 3,180 kW, which can be operated with marine gas oil (diesel) or liquefied natural gas (LNG) as required. This engine complies with the high Tier III environmental quality standard and is designed for a cruising speed of 12.5 knots.
LNG supply on deck
The first voyage led from the port of loading in northern China via Singapore, the Suez Canal, through the Mediterranean to Hamina in Finland and finally to Hamburg. The ship covered the majority of its maiden voyage in LNG mode. The tank for the liquefied gas on deck has a capacity of 350 m³. This is sufficient for a distance of around 4,200 nm.
The construction of the ship was funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport with a total of €1.58 million as part of the implementation of the German government’s mobility and fuel strategy (MKS). The money was granted to partially compensate for the additional costs of the ship’s LNG propulsion, it is said. The next three ships in the tanker quartet are expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2024.
Essberger christened at the cruise terminal
The namesake Liselotte von Rantzau-Essberger (1918-1993) was the daughter of shipping company founder John T. Essberger. She was at the helm of the company for 30 years. The naming ceremony will take place next Wednesday at the Altona cruise terminal in the Port of Hamburg. The godmother is Greet Verheyden, Logistics Manager at Borealis, a major manufacturer of plastics and a long-standing customer of the shipping company.
The “Liselotte Essberger” is already the fifth ship of this name in the company’s almost one hundred-year history. The shipping company currently operates 32 modern chemical tankers and two container ships. The chemical tankers are deployed in a pool with the Norwegian shipping company Stolt-Nielsen under the name E&S Tankers.
