Epic firms ro/ro order with Maersk shipyard

Epic firms ro/ro order with Maersk shipyard A.P. Moller-Maersk’s Odense Steel Shipyard Ltd. and Epic Shipping (UK) Ltd. have finalized the contract for six roll-on/roll-off vessels announced last month.
   The six vessels for Epic will each have a length of 193 meters (633.2 feet), breadth of 26 meters (85.3 feet) with 3,700 lane meters (12,139 feet). (A lane meter is of measure for ro/ro deck, equivalent to one lane wide and one meter long, or two square meters.)
   The ships will be able to accommodate 12 drivers with space for 250 trailers, and will be capable of an operational speed of 21.5 knots. Four of the ships are to be delivered in 2009 with the last two arriving in 2010.
   The Danish shipyard said the order would employ an average of about 600 people from 2008 until the delivery of the last vessel in 2010.
   “We are pleased with this order from an external buyer, partly because it shows that the shipyard is competitive in the ro/ro segment, and partly because the vessels — with start of production in the summer 2008 — fits well in the planning of the shipyard,” said OSS Chief Financial Officer Peter Jann Nielsen.