The Big Whites

SA Helderberg class " The Big Whites "
Ship data
Ship type :	Container motor ship
Builder:	Chantiers de France-Dunkirk, Dunkirk, Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St Nazaire, Chantiers Navals de La Ciotat, La Ciotat, all France
Technical specifications
Measurement :	about 53,000 GRT
Load capacity :	around 50,000 t
Length over all:	258.50 m
Length between perpendiculars:	247.40 m
Width over everything:	32.30 m
Max. Draft :	13.2 m
machine
Drive:	2 × Sulzer 8RND90 two-stroke diesel engine
Machine power:	25,627 kilowatts
Top speed:	22.0 kn
charge
Pitches:	initially 2450, later around 3100 TEU
Refrigerated container connections:	890
Others
Number of crew:	up to 35
Number of passengers:	12

The ships of the SA Helderberg class , or Helderberg class for short , are generally called The Big Whites because of their white hulls . The quartet of Panamax - Container motor vessels of the Belgian / South African shipping company Safmarine consisted of the ships SA Helderberg , SA Sederberg , SA Winterberg and SA Waterberg , which were taken between late 1977 and early 1979 in operation.

The series of this type of ship was built at the three French shipyards Chantiers de France in Dunkirk , Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire and Chantiers Navals de La Ciotat in La Ciotat .

history

DAL Kalahari , ex Ortelius , one of the other ships on the SAECS service

The first container liner services between Europe and South Africa began in the late 1970s . From the end of 1977, the then still South African shipping company Safmarine put the four sister ships of the SA Helderberg class into service on the traditional SAECS (South African Europe Service) line. When they were built, the ships, initially designed for 2,450 TEU, were among the largest container ships in the world. Together with other almost identical 3rd generation container ships, such as the City of Durban of the British Ellerman Lines , Nedlloyds Nedlloyd Hoorn , the Ortelius of the Belgian shipping company Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB), the Table Bay of Overseas Containers Limited and the Transvaal of German Africa Lines were approached the recently completed container terminals in Durban , Port Elizabeth and Cape Town . After the ships spent most of their careers on the Europe-South Africa service (SAECS service), they have been on the South Africa-Far East route (SAFARI service) in the last few years of their service.

The SA Winterberg as Transvaal 1995 in charter of the German Africa Lines

In 1990 Safmarine had the owner's and some officers' chambers converted into well-equipped passenger cabins for twelve people, which was very well received.

Safmarine sold all four ships in 2000 but chartered them back for another three years. In August 2003, the Athens- based Danaos Shipping Company acquired the ships and in 2008 finally sold them all for demolition at a good profit in view of the upcoming class work and the associated docking after the charter contracts had expired.

The reasons for the scrapping of the ships were the high operating costs, caused by the machinery with its relatively high consumption, the large crew due to the complex ConAir system and the manual refrigerated container monitoring as well as the small number of container spaces on board, despite the increase to 3101 TEU .

The four sister ships were replaced by a total of seven newbuildings, two of which, 6,160 TEU post-Panamax ships built at the Korean Hanjin shipyard, are called " Mega Whites " by the Safmarine .

technology

When they were built, the "Big Whites" were among the world's largest container ships. The container capacity from initially 2,450 TEU was later increased to around 3,100 TEU. In addition, the ships had an extraordinarily large number of refrigerated container connections and were otherwise equipped with a number of advanced extras. The ship's propulsion system consisted of two diesel engines and the superstructures were air-conditioned. Particularly noteworthy was the equipment with fin stabilizers .

The ships

• The type ship of the Safmarine series was the SA Helderberg . The ship, measured with a volume of 53,023 GRT, had a deadweight of 49,662 tons. It was built as hull number 298 at the Chantiers de France shipyard in Dunkirk. The keel was laid on September 10, 1976, the launch on May 5, 1977. After its completion on December 20, 1977, SA Helderberg under Commodore Robin Thomson began the liner service between Northern Europe and South Africa, on which it remained in service until 2000 . From 2000 to 2001 the ship was chartered as MSC Texas to the Swiss shipping company Mediterranean Shipping Company . In the years 2001 to 2007 the ship was under its old name again, in 2007 the name was changed back to Helderberg . In the same year had Helderberg in the Malaccastraße near Singapore a collision with a tanker , in which she lost about 50 tons of fuel. In the following year it was named Asia Express for its last trip to the demolition yard in Chittagong . The demolition began there on October 27, 2008.
• The second ship of the series was the SA Sederberg, delivered on June 15, 1978 with hull number 299 . The keel of the ship, also measured at 53,023 GRT, was laid on May 18, 1977, just under two weeks after the SA Helderberg was launched. The launch of the second building of the Chantiers de France shipyard took place on January 10, 1978. The SA Sederberg had a deadweight of 48,878 tons. On May 12, 2000 the ship was renamed Sederberg , which the ship kept until the demolition, which began on December 13, 2008 in Alang .
• The SA Winterberg was built as hull number K26 of the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard and had a volume of 53,050 GRT and a deadweight of 50,819 tons. Her keel was laid on September 21, 1977, the launch on May 19, 1978 and the handover on November 23, 1978. After fourteen years as SA Winterberg , from 1992 to 1995 three years as the Transvaal in charter of Deutsche Afrika Linien (which had her own Transvaal sold in 1987) and another thirteen years as SA Winterberg . At the beginning of 2008 she was named Winterberg for almost two weeks before she was named Wilmington for her last trip to the demolition in Chittagong . She arrived at Chittagong on February 24, 2008.
• The conclusion was formed by SA Waterberg , which was laid down on July 11, 1977 at the shipyard Chantiers Navals de La Ciotat with hull number 320. The ship measured at 53,050 GRT and had a deadweight of 50,027 tons. After it was launched on January 31, 1978, it could only be delivered over a year later, on February 20, 1979. From 2001 the ship sailed as Maersk Constantia . In the summer of 2008, Maersk Constantia was sold for demolition for US $ 15.8 million. It made its last trip to Chittagong as a Falcon , where scrapping began on May 27, 2008.

Web links

• Safmarine at Oceanlinermuseum (English)
• Report at Mastermarinersa (English)
• Report at Worldshipsocietyrotterdam (English)
• Report at Shipyearonline (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IMO 7423029
2. ↑ ship data on Miramar Ship Index (English)  ( Page no longer available , searching web archives )  Info: The link is automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Report on Merchantships-international (English)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Report on Triton-services (English)
5. ↑ IMO 7423031
6. ↑ ship data on Miramar Ship Index (English)  ( Page no longer available , searching web archives )  Info: The link is automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ IMO 7422192
8. ↑ ship data on Miramar Ship Index (English)  ( Page no longer available , searching web archives )  Info: The link is automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ Sale for cancellation  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ IMO 7422207
11. ↑ ship data on Miramar Ship Index (English)  ( Page no longer available , searching web archives )  Info: The link is automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
12. ↑ [1]