The Finnish shortsea and MPP shipping company Meriaura wants to modernize its fleet with a new open-deck building. There is even talk of a “significant milestone”.
According to Meriaura, it has signed a newbuilding contract with the Chinese shipyard Jiangsu Zhenjiang Shipyard. This involves an open-deck carrier with 6,800 dwt. Delivery of the 120 m long and 21.6 m wide freighter with ice class 1A is planned for the beginning of 2028.
CEO Beppe Rosin expressed his euphoria at the signing of the contract: “This order is a significant milestone in our ongoing fleet renewal program and underlines our commitment to both segments. An ice-classed open deck freighter sailing under the Finnish flag is also a valuable asset for safeguarding Finnish supply security. With slightly larger ship sizes, such as those currently under construction at Eco Traders, we want to respond even better to the needs of our customers – more flexibly and in a larger area of operation.”
Meriaura is active in the Northern European shortsea market, including bulk, breakbulk and project cargo. The fleet consists of 17 vessels, including two deck carriers. The transport capacity of the Meriaura freighters is just under 3 million tons per year.
Like the rest of the fleet, the newbuild will mainly be deployed in short sea shipping. It is optimized for heavy project and special cargoes and specially designed for demanding RoRo operations. “With features such as dynamic positioning, a large deck area and excellent technical and operational performance, the ship is suitable for a wide range of project requirements all year round. It also enables access to challenging locations with shallow draught, insufficient infrastructure or limited space,” says the shipping company, which is once again being run as a family business following the share deal last year .
“Meriaura’s open deck carriers are market leaders in several heavy lift segments in Northern Europe, but there is still significant untapped potential in regional short sea shipping,” said Business Development Director Jessica Saari.
The ship concept, which is based on the two predecessor models developed by Meriaura, was developed in cooperation with Deltamarin, another Finnish design office. The ship will be equipped with three main engines, two of which will be manufactured in Finland. According to the information provided, these are medium-speed four-stroke engines that are designed for easy conversion to future low-emission or emission-free fuels. Part of the future fuel mix will be Meriaura’s “own biofuel”. The ship is also prepared for battery operation using a plug-and-play system.
