Frankfurt Express (ship, 1981)

Frankfurt Express

Side view of the Frankfurt Express

Ship data flag  Germany other ship names MSC Athina (2007-2009) Ship type Container Ship home port Hamburg Shipping company Hapag-Lloyd Shipyard Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, Kiel Launch January 28, 1981 Whereabouts Canceled as of February 28, 2009

Ship dimensions and crew length 287.73 m ( Lüa ) 271.10 m ( Lpp ) width 32.20 m Side height 24.00 m Draft Max. 13.06 m measurement 58,385 GRT 37,934 NRT   crew 32

Machine system machine 2 × MAN K9SZ 90/160 B diesel engines Machine performance 54,385 PS (40,000 kW) Top speed 25 kn (46 km / h) propeller 2 × fixed propellers

Transport capacities Load capacity 51,540 dwt Container 3,045, later 3,420 TEU

In 1981 the Frankfurt Express was the largest container ship in the world.

history

The Frankfurt Express was launched on January 28, 1981 under construction number 168 at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel and was completed in June 1981. The client was the shipping company Hapag-Lloyd from Hamburg . Although the Frankfurt Express is a third generation container ship , with a length of 287.73 meters, it was designed around thirteen meters longer than the majority of ships of this generation. The ship was employed by Hapag-Lloyd in the East Asian service. In the meantime it sailed under the flag of Singapore, in January 2004 it was brought back under the German flag and finally sold to the Swiss shipping company MSC in 2007 .

After the ship was sold, it was still in service until 2009 as MSC Athina , reached the scrapping yards near Gadani on February 26, 2009 and was scrapped there from February 28.

In 2010, the name of the ship was given to a new ship by Hapag-Lloyd .

technology

The size of the double-hulled ship with its eleven watertight transverse bulkheads was striking in terms of shipbuilding . Both bulbous bow and transom could be considered the standard for ships of this type in 1981. The most striking technical feature was the powerful drive system with two single-acting reversible nine-cylinder two-stroke diesel engines. Also noteworthy were the two wave generator systems as well as the stabilizers, which are rarely installed on cargo ships, or the two bow thrusters . The Frankfurt Express had nine cargo holds in which the containers could be stowed up to nine layers high and in ten rows side by side. They were closed with pontoon hatch covers. Initially, the ship had a capacity of 3,045 TEU, later, after conversion in 1988, up to 3,420 TEU could be carried.

Training institutions

The Frankfurt Express was designed as a training ship. In addition to a fully equipped training workshop with all the essential machine tools, the ship also had a training deck with 6 chambers for a total of 12 trainees, which was specially designed to accommodate the cadets. A training room and a training card table on the bridge were also available. The training of junior ship mechanics on the Frankfurt Express was usually carried out by a specially assigned training officer and a ship operator.

literature

• Witthöft, Hans Jürgen: Container . A box makes a revolution. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-7822-0777-7 .

Web links

• Technical data from Miramar
• The Frankfurt Express at maritime radio network

Footnotes

1. ↑ Equasis (accessed January 17, 2010)