Author: FSG

Presently, a distance of more than 16,000 kilometres, or almost half-way around the globe, seems insurmountable when it comes to signing a contract, unless the contracting parties agree to do so in synch via video link. That is precisely how the Tasmanian-based Australian shipping company, SeaRoad, and German shipbuilding yard, Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG), have finalised the purchase contract for a RoRo vessel with LNG propulsion. A face-to-face meeting in Australia or Germany was not possible due to the current pandemic, but the spirit of cooperation between the two organisations provided the foundation to deliver an outcome that was almost a year in the making.

Work on the contracted RoRo vessel with a length of 210 metres and a width of 29.30 metres will start in Flensburg in winter 2021/2022 (Europe). Delivery to SeaRoad has been agreed for the last quarter of 2023. The vessel will have 3,792 lane metres available for the carriage of freight units, plus capacity for over 100 trade vehicles. A special requirement for the vessel is the capability to transport heavy cargo with a unit weight of up to 100 tonnes. The order now placed is worth more than 100 million euros. The funding partner for the project is the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

SeaRoad is already a familiar FSG customer. The first RoRo vessel “made in Flensburg”, the MS Searoad Mersey II joined the SeaRoad fleet in 2016. The second FSG-built vessel, MS Liekut, joined SeaRoad recently under a three-year charter agreement in April 2021.

“We’ve been very pleased with how the two FSG-built vessels in the SeaRoad fleet have performed from both an efficiency and operational perspective. We look forward to continuing our successful relationship with the German shipyard and their experienced staff. Sustainable design, leading technology and the excellent quality of their vessels are all important elements,” says Chas Kelly, Executive Chairman of SeaRoad.

Philipp Maracke, CEO of Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft, adds, “We are proud to have brought this order to Flensburg as it is proof of the shipyard’s successful new start. This additional order by a long-standing customer equals an important vote of confidence in both this new model, as well as our established expertise as an innovative German newbuilding yard. Our aim is to combine superior quality and superior life-cycle value. With this new vessel, FSG and SeaRoad will make an important contribution to sustainable shipping.”

The new RoRo vessel will operate on Bass Strait between Devonport, on the island of Tasmania, and Melbourne, Victoria on mainland Australia.  

With its proven high-quality standards, the high efficiency of the LNG-powered vessel and the associated low operating costs, FSG has once again impressed SeaRoad.

Flensburg / Devonport, 20 September 2021

Technical data of the RoRo vessel newbuilding 784 for SeaRoad (3D-Model: FSG):
Length: 210 metres
Width: 29.30 metres
Gross registered tonnage 43,100
Power main engines: 2 x 10,300 kilowatts
Deadweight: 12,183 tonnes
Speed: 22.50 knots
Cabins: 25 (27 berths)
Cargo capacities: 3,792 lane metres plus capacity for over 100 trade vehicles

In a traditional keel-laying ceremony at Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG), the first hull segment of the newbuilding number 782, weighing more than 50 tons, was lowered by crane onto the blocks. In accordance with maritime custom, a 1-euro coin was placed under the keel for good fortune. The keel laying of the RoRo ferry to be built was performed by Philipp Maracke, CEO of FSG, Klaus Müller, project manager of this newbuilding project at the classification society DNV GL, Thomas Jansen, chairman of the FSG works council, and Flensburg’s mayor Simone Lange.

“For FSG, today’s keel-laying marks an important milestone, as this is the first order after restructuring and relaunching the shipyard in September 2020. This shipbuilding project is also significant for our 380 employees, who are now back to doing what they do best: building highly efficient ships,” said the shipyard’s CEO Philipp Maracke. The fact that this vessel is a proven design is of particular advantage both for the buyer as well as for FSG, he stressed. „As RoRo type 4100 was developed by us and built here repeatedly, we are very familiar with its construction. That makes it extraordinarily easy for the shipyard to ramp up.” The training of young skilled workers will also benefit: for the first time, trainees from the 3rd year of their apprenticeship will be deployed operationally in construction. Currently, a total of 36 young people are learning eight different professions at FSG.

IVP Ship Invest has ordered this RoRo ferry for completion by April 2022. In addition, the customer is placing an option for a second vessel. This order has a total volume of 140 million euros. IVP Ship Invest is a company owned by Lars Windhorst, founder of Tennor Holding. The commissioned 210-metre-long ship – FSG’s newbuilding number 782 – features the most innovative technology “made in Germany”: a market-wide unrivalled low fuel consumption as well as an efficient, unique loading concept had already convinced numerous renowned RoRo shipping companies to rely on ships from Flensburg before FSG’s new start, making the shipyard the world market leader in this segment.

Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft has set itself another goal. “The shipyard will diversify in the future and we will increasingly act as a reliable partner to the German Navy and in international naval shipbuilding,” Philipp Maracke stated. “To this end, we can build on earlier projects, as FSG continues to have a good reputation as a naval shipyard, even though we focussed on merchant ships in recent years.”

Sophisticated projects with a high degree of technical differentiation and individualisation will continue to be “made in Flensburg” on the northern German Firth. The innovative edge will even be extended, as the shipyard looks to address the topic of zero emission, thus achieving ecological and economic market leadership in special shipbuilding, explained CEO Philipp Maracke.

Flensburg, 30 December 2020

Technical data of the RoRo ferry newbuilding 782:
Length: 210 metres
Width: 26 metres
Gross registered tonnes: 32,770
Main engines output: 2 x 9,600 kilowatts
Track metres: 4,007
35 cabins for 12 truck drivers and 34 crew

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