Angola South brings on new vessel

Change is inevitable and so it was when Meihuizen International fondly bid farewell to Blue Sky, the familiar little blue and white multipurpose vessel that has served the Angola South Line unstintingly for 12 years over more than 100 voyages. In its place – without a single lapse in the line’s schedule integrity – is the newer, larger and faster German-owned multipurpose vessel, Christian D, on its Cape Town ‘maiden’ call last week. The 5 100dwt vessel ‘rattled’ down the West Africa coast in ballast from Matadi (Angola) to Cape Town, departing mid- Friday for Luanda, Soyo and Malongo with a cargo ranging from steel for the Angolan oil industry to 25 reefers with content frozen between -4C and -20C. A first full ship augurs well for the future, said Meihuizen director Gerald Hagemann. An attempt to capture the Durban market proved unsuccessful during the Blue Sky era but Hagemann says Meihuizen does not exclude the possibility of the port becoming a (second) regular call, if viable. Christian D’s Filipino master, Stephen Decipolo – for five years chief mate of the Blue Sky – clearly favours a more cosmopolitan crew which includes a Russian chief officer, a Cuban chief engineer, crew from Myanmar and Estonia and a single training cadet in Viktor Chupryna., who hails from the Ukraine. The 94.7 metre vessel, built in Turkey in 2001, is named for Christian Dopp, the financial director of owners, BDShipsnavo GmbH and Co of Germany, and is on daily time charter to Meihuizen, with longer-term charter prospects to be pursued later. The vessel has a service speed of 12 knots (13.5 knots maximum) which will allow for a 21-day round trip between Angola and South Africa. While the Blue Sky could only accommodate 22 on-deck reefers, Christian D allows for 80 (380 container slots in all) and boasts twin on-board cranes with combined safe lifting capacity of 75 tons for project cargo.