MOL, Sanoyas design bulk carrier for expanded Panama Canal

MOL, Sanoyas design bulk carrier for expanded Panama Canal Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and Sanoyas Hishino Meisho Corp. have developed a 116,000-deadweight “Handy Cape” type bulk carrier designed to move through the expanded Panama Canal.
   Two ships of 245 meters (804 feet) in length, 43 meters (141 feet) wide and 15.3 meters (50.2 feet) draft are expected to be launched in 2009 and 2010, a few years before the Panama Canal expansion is due to be complete about 2014.
   “The Handy Cape bulker can be used at ports where larger-size vessels are restricted to call. MOL and Sanoyas Hishino Meisho expect a strong increase in demand for Handy Cape bulker, designed in advance of the canal project,” the companies said in a joint statement.