MAERSK SEALAND NEW VESSEL HURRICANE DELAY NOW PUT AT 5 WEEKS

MAERSK SEALAND NEW VESSEL HURRICANE DELAY NOW PUT AT 5 WEEKS    The 17th ultra-large Maersk Sealand 6,600-TEU containership under construction at the A. P. Moller group’s in-house shipyard in Denmark, should now be completed by mid-March, five weeks behind schedule.
   On Dec. 3 a freak hurricane at the Lindo Steel Shipyard toppled its giant wide-span gantry crane on top of the vessel, which was nearing completion. The workforce was sent home for a month while the damaged crane was lifted clear in sections. It will not be fully repaired and operational for a further 12-15 months, but work is resuming now with five giant crawler cranes handling somewhat smaller ship sections instead, the shipyard said.
   When the current vessel is delivered to Maersk Sealand, similar orders orders for two more of the same large series of “K” and “S”-types will follow on, bringing the total to 19. Then the first keel of a new six-ship 3,700TEU series for Maersk Sealand will be laid in December this year, the shipyard said.
   These will be broadly compatible with Maersk’s “M”-Class panamax types, with a relatively high reefer capacity, the shipyard said.