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."