Oldendorff Centenary Book - Flipbook - Page 319
Linda Oldendorff
Ten years after having taken delivery
of the ‘Mark III’ type Panamaxes from
Burmeister & Wain of Copenhagen,
Egon Oldendorff contracted one
‘Mark V’ type Panamax from the same
yard, on a leasing basis. The ship
was delivered in July 1995 and was
christened by 18 months-old Linda
Oldendorff, the second daughter of
Henning Oldendorff and probably
one of the youngest sponsors ever
to name a ship. The 75,100 tdw bulker
boasts a strong steel structure and
11,750 tonnes lightweight.
As a consequence of the severe
shipping crisis from 1982 onwards
many shipyards were forced to
economise on steel and took to
using a high percentage (from 60
to 80%) of thin, high-tensile steel
(HTS) which is less corrosionresistant and has a tendency to
buckle and to develop cracks when
fatigued. This feature applies to
many ships built from the mid-1980s
onwards and is likely to contribute
to additional fleet renewal
requirements in the next decade.
FAIR SPIRIT, built in 1974, was sold in
1995, but at the same time Oldendorff
Asia acquired a younger SD 14 type
tweendecker, built in 1980 at CCN
Maua in Brasil. The FROTA DURBAN
is on a one-year timecharter to the
sellers, Frota Oceanica, and will
change her name thereafter.
Oldendorff Carriers has naval
architects who work with the
shipyards to ensure that the areas
of the vessel which are prone to
stress and cracking are reinforced
with extra steel.
The same yard had built the mv
NOBILITY in 1983 which in 1989 was
converted to a 12,800 tdw/500 TEU
multipurpose tweendeck/container
vessel with 30 tonnes Liebherr twin
cranes. Egon Oldendorff bought the
ship from Alianca and renamed her
JOBST OLDENDORFF.
Virtually the complete currently
owned EO fleet is made up of ships
with a high lightweight. To qualify
for acquisition by Egon Oldendorff,
candidates on the second-hand
tonnage market must be of strong
construction and be built of mild steel.
315
In this context the term ‘standard’ is
used to describe typical comparable
standard ship types on offer from
shipyards for the last ten years.
The Egon Oldendorff fleet exceeds
that of ‘standard’ vessels by 20 to
60%. They are stronger and have
a higher life expectancy.
Some Korean Panama designs
have 8,500 lightweight tonnes,
and a Japanese Handymax 45,000
tonnes bulker design may offer only
some 6,000 lightweight tonnes.
Both figures are about 40% down
on what a shipowner could expect
to get for their money up to the
early 1980s.
