Oldendorff Centenary Book - Flipbook - Page 227
GRETKE (3)
1973-1991
The shipyards foresaw a total
volume of some 500 units to replace
the ageing Liberties. This proved
to be a misjudgement since no
matter how one defines a Liberty
Replacement, it is true to say in
retrospect that more than 1,000
of these have in fact been built.
But note one important difference:
Liberties had been built for one
single client, the Government
of the United States of America,
whereas a multitude of owners
of many nationalities could be
identified as potential buyers for
the new generation of freighters.
Shipowners almost by definition
are individualists, used to ordering
tailor-made ships. Series shipbuilding hardly existed except
perhaps for account of one and the
same shipowner and was in the
main confined to coastal vessels.
their basic type vessel ‘X’ at an
equally basic price, charging
extra for special features. This
reduced the costs of ship design.
Series construction of sections
contained building costs, and batch
purchasing of materials provided
an opportunity for bulk discounts.
Thus, a 14,000 tonner, one of a
series of 25 identical units, can be
obtained at 15% below the price
for a one-off construction of similar
size. Today, this gap is even wider.
Cost consciousness increasingly
exercised shipowners’ minds. Gone
were the times when, other than
voyage charters, it did not make
a material difference whether a
round voyage took 40 or 45 days.
Rising wages worldwide pushed
up newbuilding prices as well
as cargo handling costs. Series
construction reduced building costs
whilst modern cargo handling gear
and ‘open’ type ships with wide
hatches minimising understow, cut
port turnaround times. Shipbuilders
had learnt a lesson from motorcar
manufacturers and began offering
Austin & Pickersgill of Sunderland,
then owned by London & Overseas
Freighters Ltd., had a shelterdecker
of some 14,000 tdw that became
known as the SD14. German shipbuilders Bremer Vulkan, Flensburger
Schiffbau-Gesellschaft and
Rickmers-Werft jointly marketed
the ‘German Liberty Replacement’ of
15,000 tdw, and finally A.G.‘Weser’
with yards at Bremen and
Bremerhaven sought buyers for
their ‘36’ type, that title being the
domestic project number of which
the enlarged ‘36L’ version eventually
fulfilled its builders’ hopes.
223
Four shipbuilders almost
simultaneously came to market
with their new designs in 1966/67.
Ishikawajima Harima Heavy
Industries (IHI) of Japan offered their
14,000 tdw type called ‘Freedom’,
a model designation that may
arguably have contributed to the
great success of this vessel.
