Charter specialists woo local market

SPECIALISTS IN the movement of project cargo, Beluga Chartering has identified South Africa as a market of future growth. Established 12 years ago and specialising in project and heavy-lift cargo, the Bremen-based company outlined its major fleet expansion programme to Johannesburg shippers last week. The current fleet – on average three years old – comprises 40 vessels. A further 16 are planned by the end of this year and by 2010 the fleet will comprise 76. All are equipped with cargo handling gear capable of lifting a combinable load of up to 500 tons. “The next generation ships go into operation in 2009, and their cranes will have a combined lifting capacity of up to 1400 tons,” sales director Kai Stefan Vogel said. “If it’s too long, too wide or too high, we have the ships the accommodate it."