Point class
 The Hartland Point
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The Point class is a series of multi-purpose RoRo ships that are subordinate to the British Ministry of Defense (MoD). The six sister ships were built from 2001 to 2003 for British accounts on the basis of the RoRo 2700 ship design of the Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft and are used for the strategic transport of mainly rolling military cargo.
history
During the military operations of the 1990s ( Second Gulf War , Bosnian War , etc.), the Ministry of Defense (MoD) found that there was no suitable tonnage of ships for the rapid transport of military equipment required by the Joint Rapid Reaction Forces and the necessary worldwide supply of troops could charter.
After the need for ships in July 1998 was estimated at four new RoRo container ships to be built, the need increased in April 1999 with the decision to end the chartering of the previously used RoRo ships RFA Sea Crusader (A96) and RFA Sea Centurion (A98) and Dart 10 do not extend to six ships. The new building program was to be carried out as part of a "Private Finance Initiative" (PFI), similar to the "builder-and-charter" system of the US Military Sealift Command, which allows normal operation as a merchant ship outside of military operations. The new building program was tendered according to EU law and tendered by the companies NOVOMAR, Maersk , AWSR Shipping Ltd and Sealion.
The British shipping company AWSR Shipping was awarded the contract on October 26, 2000 to build the six ships and operate them for 25 years. After lengthy negotiations between AWSR and Harland & Wolff and numerous delays, the construction contracts were not signed until mid-2001. The final overall agreement on the construction and operation of the vehicles until 2024, which was only signed in June 2002, comprised around 950 million pounds. AWSR Shipping, now Foreland Shipping, are responsible for the staffing, maintenance and operation of the vehicles that are not used as warships. The manning on behalf of the MoD takes place exclusively with British personnel, who are available for reserve purposes after a training phase, while multinational crews are used during the rest of the time.
The type of ship ordered is based on the Ro-Ro-2700 ship design of the Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft, which also built four of the six units in Flensburg. The Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland, built two more sister ships to ensure early delivery of the series.
The start of construction of the first ship in the autumn of 2001 also in Belfast, the first keel laying there took place on 8 October 2001. In Flensburg followed by the first keel was laid on 21 January 2002. On 16 August 2002 was in Flensburg with the Hurst Point the first Ship of the series to be handed over. The first Harland & Wolff ship followed on October 21, 2002. The Anvil Point decided on March 31, 2003 to build the series.
Civil use
Since the ships are not continuously used by the British Ministry of Defense, some of them are chartered out to civil companies, but can always be withdrawn at short notice for military operations. The Longstone and the Beachy Head were in service from 2003 to 2009 for the Finnish shipping company Transfennica . Since January 2009 the Longstone has been chartered by the Finnish shipping company Finnlines as a Finnmerchant in the Baltic Sea , the Beachy Head sails as Williamsborg for the Danish company Nordana.
Technical details and equipment
The cargo decks of the ships extend over three decks to directly below the living facilities in the deckhouse, which contributes to the characteristic appearance. The ships have extensive cargo facilities. For cargo handling, the ships have stern ramps and an internal ramp system to connect the cargo decks. In addition, each ship has a deck crane attached to the starboard side amidships in front of the deckhouse, which can lift up to 40 t.
Based on the civil Ro-Ro-2700 design designed for the transport of semi-trailers, general Ro-Ro loads, Mafi trailers, containers and tanks, the ships of the Point class were tailored to the requirements of the MoD. The ships of the Point class are therefore designed to carry 25 Challenger 2 tanks, 24 Warrior armored personnel carriers , self-propelled 155 mm self-propelled howitzers , as well as other vehicles and trailers. 189 12.6 meter long semi-trailers can be found on each of the trailer decks. There are 485 gauge meters on the lower cargo deck and 975 gauge meters on the main deck. In total, the ships with space on the weather deck each have 2606 gauge meters. There are 60 connections for refrigerated containers on board.
At a draft draft of 6.6 meters, the ships transport around 10,000 tons at speeds of up to 22 knots . However, higher drafts and payloads are possible. The normal service speed is estimated at 18 knots. Most of the ships are equipped with two four-stroke diesel engines of the MaK 7M 43 type, which act on two controllable pitch propellers . The Eddystone is equipped with two MaK diesel engines, each with an output of 8100 kW. The last delivered Beachy Head also has more powerful engines of the type 9M 43. The ships have an electrically powered bow thruster with an output of 1400 kW.
There is space for 22 crew members on board the ships . The crew size is usually 18 people.
The ships
| Point class - type RoRo 2700 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Building name | Shipyard / construction number |
IMO number | Keel laying, launching, delivery |
Renaming and whereabouts |
| Hurst Point | FSG / 717 | 9234068 | January 21, 2002 April 19, 2002 August 16, 2002 |
- |
| Eddystone | FSG / 718 | 9234070 | April 22, 2002 August 16, 2002 November 7, 2002 |
- |
| Hartland Point | Harland & Wolff / 1741 | 9248538 | October 8, 2001 - December 10, 2002 |
- |
| Longstone | FSG / 719 | 9234082 | August 19, 2002 November 8, 2002 January 23, 2003 |
2015 Finnmerchant |
| Anvil Point | Harland & Wolff / 1742 | 9248540 | - - March 31, 2003 |
- |
| Beachy Head | FSG / 720 | 9234094 | November 11, 2002 February 7, 2003 April 24, 2003 |
2014 Williamsborg 2019 Massimo Mura |
| Data: Equasis, large tonnage | ||||
Web links
- Data side of the yard (English) ( Memento of 8 February 2004 at the Internet Archive )
- Description for Navy Matters (English) ( Memento of 16 October 2014 Internet Archive )
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d Foreland Shipping .
- ↑ Equasis homepage (English)
- ↑ grosstonnage homepage (English)