Cuxhaven – MV BBC LEER, the first newbuilding of the “LakerMax”-series of fifteen DWT 13,000 multipurpose triple deckers, has made its first call at a German port, discharging a full load of windmill blades from Mexico.

After its delivery from Taizhou Sanfu Heavy Industry, China the vessel had sailed on its maiden voyage from Nantong in China to Contrecoeur in Canada. Continuing via Corpus Christi in the United States, the vessel then sailed for Altamira, where it took a load of windmill blades to be discharged in Cuxhaven.

After calling several ports in the Baltic, the vessel will be calling Hamburg in early October before continuing its voyage towards the Middle East via Cape of Good Hope.

BBC LEER was welcomed by about 150 participants, including members of the Briese family, clients and employees of BBC Chartering, and several official representatives from the port, the city of Cuxhaven and representatives of federal politics in a welcoming event arranged by BBC Chartering at the BluewaterBREB Terminal in Cuxhaven.

“After having talked so much about this new vessel generation, this welcome event was a very good opportunity to present the real vessel to our clients, partners and employees in the company. BBC LEER has performed very well during her first voyages and has already shown off with her enormous cargo capacity, which makes her and her sister vessels the most efficient vessels of their class.” said Ulrich Ulrichs, CEO of BBC Chartering.

BBC LEER and sister vessels are equipped with two Liebherr LS 250 shipboard cranes, offering a combined lifting capacity of up to 500 mt. Bridge and crew accommodation are located at the front of the ship, with the two cranes located portside. This allows for an impressive unobstructed 2,830 sqm of space on the weather deck. The two cargo holds are box shaped and offer room for almost 26,000 cbm of cargo on a floor space of close to 5,000 sqm, when two tween decks are in operation.

The higher capacity of cargo spaces below deck compared to existing tonnage allows for up to 30% reductions in GHG emissions per freight ton carried. The main large triple-deck cargo hold can accommodate cargo units under deck at a length of up to 104.3m at a width of up to 18.2m. Hatch covers and tweendecks allow for loads up to 4.0 mtons per sqm, while the tanktop can handle up to 20.0 mt per sqm, in parts up to 25.0 mt/sqm. The vessels are certified to operate with open hatches.

(Photo from BBC Chartering)