The two ships built in the Spanish shipyard Astilleros Hijos de J. Barreras in Vigo were used solely to transport reefer containers filled with bananas and thus formed a special development in reefer container shipping in the early 1970s. Short distances for the transport of the profitable commodity bananas could thus be realized for the US market especially from the producing country Honduras. Both ships were built on behalf of the United Fruit Company, the ship management was carried out by the Fyffes Line (Elder & Fyffes) based in London .
The ship
The keel-laying in the Spanish shipyard took place on June 25, 1970. By stacking it ran for almost ten months of construction on 24 April 1971. The delivery to the shipowner on 19 February 1972 the transfer to the Texas home port. The superstructures with the operating systems and the accommodation for the crew, which were located far forward, made it possible for the on-board 29.5 Mp gantry crane to serve all five container cells dividing the ship. This loading and unloading technology was crucial for short ship turns and rapid loading and unloading of perishable cargo. The ship was able to transport a total of 80 40-foot containers ( FEU ), of which 47 were below deck and 37 on the upper deck. In order to be able to move as many containers as possible below deck, no closed cells were built. This ensured optimal heat dissipation of the waste heat generated by the cooling units. There was a cross aisle between each container cell. There were longitudinal aisles equipped with high-performance fans on the side walls . The special refrigerated containers had two independent cooling systems, an electrical connection for on-board operation and a diesel drive for land transport.
The ship was driven by two diesel engines with 3200 hp each via a reduction gear on each three-bladed propeller. The propellers each had a diameter of 3.2 meters. Three 525 kW diesel generators were provided for the power supply on board. There was also an 80 kW emergency generator on board. The ship had a double rudder and a 300 HP bow thruster. The container ship was classified at Lloyd's Register of Shipping . Both ships were operated for only twelve years each, to be launched in 1984 and canceled the following year.
literature
K. Dreßler: Yearbook of Shipping 1974 . transpress VEB Verlag for Transport, Berlin, p. 107
