Hatsu Marine Ltd., the leading global ocean carrier based in London, has added two more post-Panamax container vessels, the Hatsu Crystal and Hatsu Smile, to its worldwide fleet.
The 8,063 teu C-type vessel, Hatsu Crystal, has been phased into the Evergreen Group's CEM service where slots are allocated between Evergreen Marine Corp., Italia Marittima and Hatsu. The CEM service links China with North Europe and the Mediterranean, and is now served by an identical fleet of C-type vessels, four provided by Evergreen Marine and two each from Hatsu and Italia Marittima. The Hatsu Crystal is on long-term charter by Hatsu from the German shipowner Conti Reederei.
The 7,024 teu S-type vessel Hatsu Smile has entered service on Hatsu's WAE route, a pendulum service linking the West Coast of North America, Asia and North Europe. The Hatsu Smile is owned by Hatsu and registered in London flying the UK flag.
Hatsu Smile is the fourth 'Greenship' to be delivered to Hatsu. Altogether 10 S-type vessels are being built for the Evergreen Group by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan. Greenships incorporate many environmental features that go well beyond the requirements of new and soon-to-be-introduced international requirements.
'Although our market is price-driven and highly competitive, with our customers all seeking to achieve the lowest shipping costs, we know that most of them are also very aware of the environmental issues,' said founder and Chairman of the Evergreen Group, Dr. Chang Yung-fa. 'We can assure our customers that Evergreen will provide first-class services whilst maintaining the highest environmental standards.'
The S-class ships incorporate a double-skinned hull with all fuel tanks located within the transverse bulkhead spaces, thus minimising the risk of oil pollution or fire as a result of grounding or collision. A high capacity oily water separator enables the oil content of waste water to be reduced below 15 ppm.
The main engines and generators incorporate low NOx technology and the ships also are able to switch to low sulphur fuels. 'Cold-ironing', the ability to shut down all shipboard generators while in port switching to shore-based electricity supplies, is also a feature of the S-class vessels.
Evergreen has chosen to class those S-class vessels allocated to Hatsu with Lloyd's Register (LR) while those for operation by Evergreen Marine Corp. will be classed with the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). It has obtained LR's EP (environment protection) notation and ABS's equivalent ES (environment safety) notation for these vessels.
