The Hamburg shipping company Leonhardt & Blumberg has put its first mini-bulker into service. It is the first delivery from an extensive order book.
The Hamburg-based shipping company recently confirmed an order for two mini bulkers from the Chinese shipyard Dajin Heavy. These will be the third and fourth ships in a series ordered by Leonhardt & Blumberg (L&B). And the first delivery has already been made for this shipping company, which is also based in Hamburg.
The Portugal-flagged “Hansa Christiansoe” was handed over by the Jiangsu Dajin Heavy Industry shipyard on Wednesday. According to L&B Managing Director Torben Kölln, this is a 10 m longer design of a proven ship type. The carrying capacity has been increased from 5,200 tdw to 5,900 tdw.
Leonhardt & Blumberg diversifies the fleet
Until 2022, L&B only had container ships (1,000 TEU-3,600 TEU) in its portfolio. However, the Hamburg-based shipping company then took advantage of the high second-hand prices and disposed of a number of ships. Subsequently, a substantial order book was built up in other market segments – with tankers, mini bulkers and short-sea vessels.
Together with Dutch partners, L&B ordered eight newbuildings for European short sea shipping from the Chowgule Shipbuilding shipyard in India a year and a half ago. Four originally agreed options have since been converted into firm orders. L&B will take delivery of three of the eight ships, with delivery starting at the end of this year.
These short-sea freighters will be chartered and deployed in a pool by NewTide Chartering in Rotterdam, a company belonging to the Dutch Boomsma Group. According to Kölln, NewTide will also take over the commercial management of the mini bulkers.
The L&B Managing Director had already said two years ago: “Shortsea shipping is where most of the innovations are taking place in order to make ships more energy-efficient and significantly reduce CO₂ emissions. Our group wants to be one of the early adopters of new technologies and therefore invest in a state-of-the-art ship type.”
L&B is also investing heavily in its third new segment: The first two new tankers were ordered in April 2024, followed by two more the following September. These are IMO II product tankers, each with a capacity of 49,500 tdw, which will be built at Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI), part of the state-owned shipyard group CSSC.
