First Geest North Sea ship built to handle 45-foot European containers

First Geest North Sea ship built to handle 45-foot European containers    Intra-European carrier Geest North Sea Line has taken delivery of the first of two 812-TEU containerships specifically designed to carry a full load of 45-foot pallet-wide containers.
   To compete against 13.6-meter (45-foot) European trucks, Geest said it has had to replace its entire container fleet with 45-foot palletwide containers.
   Its new vessel, the “Geeststroom,” is more than twice the size of Geest’s current largest ship, and will be deployed on Geest’s Rotterdam/Tilbury and Rotterdam/Hull routes. A sister ship, the “Geestdijk,” is due for delivery in April.
   Geest said it wants to expand European shortsea shipping and, in particular, push for a greater use of intermodal options including rail and inland waterway transport in Europe.
   “Unfortunately, no-one yet has built a containership specifically designed around the 45-foot box and so any vessel we have chartered (until now) has always been a compromise,” said Wout Pronk, Geest’s managing director. “Geeststroom has changed all that, ” he added.