Oldendorff Centenary Book - Flipbook - Page 229
THE LINERTYPE
INVESTMENT
OPPORTUNITY
Egon Oldendorff bought a number of standard
freighters at a time when most German
shipowners showed little interest in them.
Egon Oldendorff felt the need to renew and expand his linert ype vessel
section and was among the first German owners to invest into this category
which, incidentally, found little favour with his compatriot colleagues. Within
no more than a few weeks he ordered two ‘36L’ type ships from the A.G.
‘Weser’ Seebeck yard at Bremerhaven, each of 13,530/16,300 tdw, 787,000 cu
ft, 185 TEU container intake (spot loading) and with accommodation for eight
passengers. The ships were delivered on 5 June and 29 September 1969 as
the GERDT OLDENDORFF and HUGO OLDENDORFF (4). Bremer Vulkan received
an order for three ‘German Liberty/German Multipurpose Freighter’ types,
commissioned on 5 May, 15 August and 6 December 1969 as the ELISABETH
OLDENDORFF, CAROLINE OLDENDORFF and MARIA OLDENDORFF. Not long
thereafter the owner, impressed by the description of the British designed
SD14, bought one of them which was under construction at the time and took
delivery of her on 22 July 1971 as the DORTHE OLDENDORFF (3), the first of
altogether nine SD14s contracted by Egon Oldendorff until 1980. GRETKE
OLDENDORFF, a type ‘36L’ vessel, was commissioned early in 1973 as the
third EO ship of this class. During that period the basic design of the ship
remained unchanged but details were constantly subject to modifications.
GERDT OLDENDORFF, the company’s first series-built freighter, is unique for one
more reason: she was the first-ever Oldendorff ship to alter her name into
BENNEKOM (a Dutch town) at the request of her Dutch timecharterers, KNSM.
ELISABETH OLDENDORFF, CAROLINE OLDENDORFF and MARIA OLDENDORFF
also chartered by KNSM for periods of approximately two years, changed their
names into BAARN, BREDA and BARNEVELD for the duration of the contracts.
Renaming ships to accommodate charterers was yet to come into fashion
and German authorities would grant permission only for period charters of
12 months or more.
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