| Conoship developing new shipbuilding concepts |
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Dutch company Conoship International BV is developing a fast multipurpose cargo ship capable of over 18 knots for a European owner. Trade Winds 13 Aug 2004 - by Geoff Garfield
Groningen-based Conoship remains tightlipped about who is behind the project but says the vessel will be able to travel three to four knots faster than comparable ships of under 100 metres in length.Conoship's contract is one of several design projects it is working on in which the owner will be at liberty to place the newbuilding contract at whatever yard it chooses in Europe or Asia. It marks a big commercial change for Conoship, which in the past has provided design, marketing and sales activities exclusively for its member yards in the northern Netherlands maritime cluster. Conoship has had to face up to the problem that those shareholder yards have dwindled in numbers through the bankruptcies and mergers sweeping the Dutch shipbuilding sector. At its peak about six years ago, Conoship had nine member yards. Today it is down to just three: Shipyard Barkmeijer Stroobos, Bodewes Shipyards and Shipyard Royal Niestern Sander. And they no longer control Conoship, whose other shares are held by employees. Casualties in recent times have included Tille Shipyards and Bijlsma. Conoship director Philippe Swolfs concedes that the diminishing yard membership triggered far-reaching shareholder talks leading to Conoship's move to go independent. Swolfs says it has enabled the company to start working for a limited number of other yards, both in the Netherlands and overseas.  New ideas: The 2.100-dwt newbuilding forest-product carrier 'Nora', developed by Shipyard Royal Niestern Sander in close co-operation with Conoship International. The "metamorphosis" of Conoship, so long held up as an example of Dutch shipbuilding co-operation, has also given it access to owners previously wary about approaching it because of the company's close ties to specific yards. Swolfs says that within a year Conoship could be working with as many as 10 "associated" shipbuilders, in addition to Barkmeijer, Bodewes and Niestern Sander. He adds that under the new regime, projects developed for individual owners, such as the fast MPP now being worked on, will be handled in total confidence from its minority shareholders. Conoship has been behind various MPP, containership and tanker designs, including contributing to a series of 4,500-dwt cargo ships being built by Barkmeijer for the expansion-minded Irish company Arklow Shipping. |
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