U-Ming christens new eco-friendly bulker

A new eco-friendly Post-Panamax bulk carrier ordered by Taiwanese shipping company U-Ming Marine Transport Corporation was christened during an online ceremony on 9 March.

The 99,990 dwt newbuild, Cemtex Excellence, was built at Japanese shipyard Oshima Shipbuilding.

The christening ceremony was hosted by Douglas Hsu, Chairman of the Far Eastern Group at the group’s headquarters in Taipei, and was connected online with Oshima Shipbuilding yard. U-Ming is one of nine public-listed companies of the Far Eastern Group.

The 119,816 cbm ship is expected to be officially launched on 14 March 2022, according to U-Ming.

Cemtex Excellence has a length of 235 meters, a width of 40 meters and a deadweight of 99,990 metric tons. It is the first in the 99,990 dwt Post-Panamax series built for U-Ming by Oshima Shipbuilding.

The eco-efficient features and an enhanced digital operation system greatly improves the operating efficiency and safety of the vessel, U-Ming said.

The increasing size of ships reduces fuel consumption per unit cargo and lowers operating costs. In view of the industry trend towards low-speed operations, speed of navigation is optimized. The narrow streamline design of the bridge also helps to reduce wind resistance, the company added.

Due to stricter new environmental regulations to be implemented in January 2023 such as Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEXI) and Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII), old ships that do not meet the regulations will be phased out.

In the second half of 2020, container shipping saw a significant increase in demand which resulted in a high volume of large container ship orders. Many yards will be occupied with container newbuilding work in the next few years leading to a slow-down in the delivery of dry bulk vessels.

On the demand side, many countries are competing for infrastructure improvements which will in turn increase the demand for raw materials which drives up the freight rates of bulk shipping. According to Clarksons’ Dry Bulk Trade Outlook for January 2022, the growth rate of dry bulk fleet is expected to be only 2.1% in 2022 versus the demand for dry bulk shipping at about 2.5%. The expected slower pace of tonnage supply will continue to favour the dry bulk market in the short term, U-Ming explained.

“By improving the management efficiency, integrating internal organizational resources through inter-departmental team co-operation, evolving high efficiency “Eco Ships”, providing sustainable diversified services and digitalizing our business, we aim to strengthen our core competitiveness and contribute to a greener and sustainable shipping market,” U-Ming said.

U-Ming currently owns and operates bulk carriers, cement carriers, very large crude carriers (VLCC), very large ore carriers (VLOC) and crew transfer vessels (CTV) — amounting to a total of 60 vessels including vessels that are in operation, under construction, joint ventures and ship management services — with a total deadweight of 8.25 million tons.

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