Oldendorff Centenary Book - Flipbook - Page 255
SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
1976-1983
tt SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN during trials
the carriage of imported crude oil,
this country did not have adequate
building facilities for ships of that
size. They are in place now. ‘We
got it wrong, all of us’, says Egon
Oldendorff today. Hapag-Lloyd
managed to convert the order for
one of their tankers into six multi
purpose freighters. The other
380,000 tdw tanker will be delivered
next spring. When Oldendorff tried
to cancel the order for his first
tanker, the HDW shipyard had a
capacity utilisation problem. ‘The
yard would have had a production
gap’ said Oldendorff. Arbitration
proceedings were suspended,
and an agreement finally reached.
According to Egon Oldendorff:
‘In agreements of that kind neither
party escapes unscathed...’.”
According to the shipyard it was
too late to convert the order from
tankers to bulk carriers since all
preparatory work had been
completed, material and engines
had been ordered, and actual
construction work had commenced.
Prior to the oil crisis the yard had
ten oil tankers and two gas tankers
in its order book. Also, the quoted
prices for the bulk carriers were
less than attractive. The Bonn
government assisted Oldendorff by
adding a 7.5% investment grant to
the shipbuilding subsidy. To comply
with the conditions attached thereto
Egon Oldendorff transferred both
tankers to the newly founded ‘Trave’
Schiffahrtsgesellschaft. Thus, the
funnel for the first tanker, the
SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN, which for
months sat on the shipyard premises
wearing the traditional EO livery
constitutes a bit of shipping history.
The tanker was commissioned with
a funnel showing a different mark,
a white T in a blue band.
251
