VLCC series for NITC completed

DSME has delivered Dadgar, the last of a series of three DNV-classed VLCCs for NITC.

2009-09-02

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) last week delivered the last of a series of three 319,000dwt VLCCs to Middle East owner NITC. The handover also completed a wider series of 17 'new generation' tankers - 13 VLCCs and four scaled-down suezmaxes - ordered simultaneously by NITC from four separate Korean yards in June 2005.

Unusually all vessels were built as far as possible to the same design, despite the different yards involved - Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries and DSME. The common design was at NITC's insistence for reasons of commonality.

As reported in Seatrade, these double-hull tankers feature special design characteristics and enhanced safety and environmental features costing around 9% more than standard yard prices. In particular, the DSME- and SHI-built vessels, classed by DNV, achieve extremely low levels of noise and vibration and were the first tankers ever to receive DNV’s highest ‘comfort’ notation, COMF-V(1), normally reserved for passenger vessels, as well as carrying its low vibration notation VIBR.

DNV classed 10 of NITC's latest series of 17 vessels. The two companies have enjoyed a long history of working together, most notably on the first series of VLCCs ever built in China at Dalian Shipyard in the late 1990s/early 2000s.

DNV