PN65 takes to the sea

The Antipodean Mariner's Company is building a series of eight 205,000 DWT Capesize bulk carriers in a South East Asian shipyard, the first of which will be enter service in May 2012. They are called Capesize because they can only sail around Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope and are too large to use the Suez and Panama Canals.

Construction of the first Capesize bulk carrier, Hull PN65, has continued steadily and in late October she took to the sea for the first time. The construction technique is for the workshop pre-fabricated hull blocks to be assembled in a large dry dock. The dock has capacity for two complete ships and two partial ships. As one pair of ships is completed, they are floated out of the dry dock and the two partially completed ships are floated forward into their place. The keel blocks are laid for the next two ships, and the process repeats.

PN65’s turn came on the 25th of October. The hull was made watertight with temporary bulkheads and the dock flooded for the tandem float out. Changes to the lifting blocks in the dock floor require the dock to be pumped out, and so PN65 was moved out to the fitting out quay for a couple of days until being returned to the dry dock. After pumping out, construction recommences on the forward section of the hull. The Main Engine, a MAN B&W 6S 70ME-C slow speed 2-stroke diesel will be shipped from the Manufacturers in Korea in November and installed before the accommodation block is lifted on fully fitted out with bridge, cabins, offices and public rooms.









The Antipodean Mariner
26th November 2011