Page 132: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 1998)

SPAIN play a major role in AESA's successful and ongoing development of business in the niche market of purpose-designed, offshore-loading crude carriers and a new breed of multi-pur- pose shuttle tanker (MST). With the

Andalucian yard complementing the activities in the sector of the Sestao establishment at

Bilbao, the group can thereby offer the requisite skills and performance on a greater scale, to satisfy lead time requirements on larger or series newbuild projects, than many of its com- petitors.

For a country in which regional considera- tions are extremely important, the arrange- ments also mean a fair distribution of know- how between northern and southern premises.

While getting started on a new tranche of shuttle tanker and MST contracts, Puerto Real has turned its hand to the construction of sophisticated new types of high-capacity ferry for Scandinavian principals.

SweFerry's 42,800-gt Skane is a landmark design for the southern Baltic, conveying trains, commercial vehicles, cars and up to 600- passengers on the Trelleborg-Rostock connec- tion between Sweden and Germany.

Puerto Real is also the birthplace for a new series of Sea Pacer-class RoPax ferries, con- ceived by Gothenburg-based Stena.

The class is distinguished by a remarkably

The San Fernando yard in Cadiz has consecutively pro- duced a trio of

Maestral-class, 40- knot monohulled passenger/car fer- ries and the very much larger

Alhambra-type, fol- lowed last fall by a

B60-designated catamaran vehicle high concentration of freight-carrying capacity, equating to 3,000-lane-meters.

Following its conclu- sion of a deal with

Finnlines whereby the Swedish firm will transfer owner- ship of the first two ferries to the

Finnish operator on completion, Stena ordered two further vessels to its own account.

While currently the world's major point of concentra- tion for the construc- tion of dedicated, ferry for Buquebus. offshore-loading tankers, the Sestao yard at Bilbao is also a participant in the far- reaching, parcel tanker fleet renewal and devel- opment program fostered by Greenwich, Conn.- headquartered Stolt-Nielsen.

With AESA having to date sealed contracts from the Norwegian-American group for a total of six 22,460-dwt newbuildings, resources at

Sestao as well as at the group's Juliana yard at

Gijon are being directed into a project demand- ing especially high levels of skill and specializa- tion.

The technical complexity of the subject design is implicit in the compartmentalization of the cargo section into 36 integral tanks and four deck tanks, incorporating individual pumps and fabricated from duplex stainless steel to cater for the full range of specialty chemical and related bulk liquids. In addition, and in line with the policy employed by Stolt for the various series of ships currently under produc- tion at European yards, the AESA sextet has been specified with a diesel-electric propulsion and power system.

The contract thereby reinforces AESA's posi- tion in the vanguard of world builders of cargo- carrying vessels applying the concept of a diesel-electric power station-type plant serving all shipboard energy needs.

While Sestao has been assigned two of the newbuilds, four have been placed with the

Juliana yard, which has an impressive track record in building specialized tankers for

Scandinavia. At the time of the firming-up of orders last year for the fifth and sixth vessels, options were placed on two further ships of the class.

Empresa Nacional Bazan has in recent years

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