Safmarine to take delivery of seven new vessels next year

SAFMARINE WILL take delivery of seven new owned vessels in 2008 as part of an extensive fleet renewal programme. This will coincide with the final departure – after 30 years of service – of the original four ‘Big Whites’ by early next year. The SA Helderberg ended its tour of service on October 3 1 while the remaining three – SA Helderberg, SA Winterberg, SA Sederberg and SA Waterberg (presently Maersk Constantia) – will be phased out between January and August 2008. The four containerships – which have been on bareboat charter to Safmarine since 2002 – will return to their owners at the end of their charter period. In 2002 Safmarine sold the four ‘Big Whites’ for an undisclosed sum to overseas owners before chartering them back on a ‘bare boat’ basis and continuing to operate them as part of the Safmarine fleet. The vessels were initially deployed on the South Africa-Europe trade for 25 years. Early in their careers they were affectionately named ‘Big Whites’ because of their large size and their gleaming white hulls which reflected the bright South African sunshine during their regular port calls in South Africa.