World's 5 largest ROROs to cut bunker costs by 50%
Atlantic Container Line (ACL), part of Italian RORO focused private shipping company Grimaldi Group, has announced it signed a contract with China's state-owned Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding to build "the five largest RORO/Containerships (CONROs) in the world."
"They will be bigger, faster, greener and more efficient than their predecessors," said ACL, adding that despite their speed being increased by 10%, fuel consumption per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) will be reduced by 50%, Ship & Bunker reports.
According to the statement, the G4 (Generation 4) vessels will be the first of their type ever built and are intended to replace ACL's existing fleet of G3 CONROs operating in the company's transatlantic service.
In a traditional CONRO design, containers are stowed on deck with lighter RORO cargo underdeck, meaning most of the weight rides high requiring a great deal of ballast for stability.
The G4's design by International Maritime Advisors (IMA) of Dragoer, Denmark will see all the RORO cargo midship, stowing the containers in cells fore and aft of the RORO section resulting in cargo replacing ballast and "much more efficient use of vessel space."
The G4's will have a container capacity of 3800 TEUs plus 28,900 square meters of RORO space, with a car capacity of 1307 vehicles.
"The dramatic increase in efficiency is essential for our long term competitiveness. We will have the equivalent of 6,500 TEU containerships in terms of earning power and economies of scale, but with far lower costs," said Andrew Abbott, President & CEO of ACL.