VG-Shipping, ship management arm of Meriaura Group, has choosen EcoSpeed from Subsea Industries as hull coating for its »Mirva VG«, the second cargo ship newbuilding.
The Royal Bodewes built »Mirva VG« will join the first of class »Eeva VG«, which will be delivered in September f[ds_preview]ollowing outfitting in Papenburg, Germany. The vessels will be owned by Gaiamare Oy, a Meriaura Group company.
According to Subsea Industries both 4,700 dwt EcoCoasters have been coated with the Ecospeed hard coating above and below the water line in VG Shipping’s red and blue livery.
Built to the ‘Cleanship’ class notation, the VG EcoCoasters, designed by Finland’s Foreship and Aker Arctic, are part of a fleet expansion program to strengthen Meriaura Group’s position in the market for vessels of this class. Each vessel features a hull form, systems and technologies designed to substantially reduce the impact of operations on the marine environment.
According to the shipping company the vessels propulsion arrangement, which incorporates a power take-in booster system to reach ice class engine power, has been optimised for slow steaming operations at speeds between 8 and 9 kn, although main engines can attain a top speed of 10.5 kn in open water conditions. The ice-class 1A vessels are powered by an ABC 8DZC dual-fuel engine, capable of running on marine gas oil (MGO) and biofuel produced at Meriaura Group’s refinery in Uusikaupunki.
