With the feeder “Fenja” from Dutch shipping company Holwerda Shipmanagement, the Strela Shiprepair yard in Stralsund has secured its longest and one of its most technically demanding retrofit orders to date.
The ship, originally built in Hamburg, is being fitted with a new bulbous bow. Further orders are already in the pipeline. The “Fenja” is an ice-class feeder container ship with a capacity of 658 TEU. It measures 21 m in width and, at 137 m in length, it is the longest ship Strela Shiprepair has handled to date.
“Classic” shipbuilding returns to Stralsund
The freighter was originally constructed in 2003 at the J.J. Sietas shipyard in Hamburg. Now, in Stralsund, “Fenja” is being retrofitted with a new bulbous bow designed to reduce water resistance and improve fuel efficiency. The new bow generates a counter-wave that partially or completely cancels out the ship’s primary bow wave, thereby reducing drag.
This is a classic retrofit project. The ship’s original elongated and narrow bulbous bow was optimised for higher cruising speeds. However, to cut fuel consumption and emissions, the vessel will operate at reduced speeds going forward. At such lower speeds, the original bow would actually increase water resistance and fuel use.
Holwerda Shipmanagement is first having the “Fenja” retrofitted with the new bow, with sister ship “Tina” to follow later. For the yard, the project marks a return to traditional shipbuilding work: the bulbous bows for both “Fenja” and Tina are being manufactured on site at the Strela Shiprepair workshop.
