Stretched Elektra calls at Durban

TERRY HUTSON
WALLENIUS Wilhelmsen Line’s (WWL) elongated Elektra arrived in Durban last week following visits to Port Elizabeth and East London. The pure car carrier is WWL’s first jumbo-sized vessel to call locally since the start of an extension programme in which the ships of this class – Elektra, Undine, Boheme, Mignon and Manon – are being extended by 28m to a total length of 228m. As a result the
13-deck Elektra now has capacity for 7 200 cars or a combination of
3 700 cars and 600 trucks. The elongation process, completed last year, increased storage capacity by 20%. Wallenius Lines is in the process of building even bigger ships capable of carrying up to 8 000 cars, for delivery in 2007 and 2008.