Tanking
about large sailing vehicles we should definitely notice Berge Ichiban.
The oil tanker has overall length of 322.95 meters and beam of 60.00
meters. The depth of the board if 29.55 meters and the draft of
the VLCC is 18.65 meters, while the ship is fully loaded. The deadweight
of Berge Ichiban is 298,552 metric tons and the gross tonnage is
159,397 gross tons. The very large crude carrier has main engine
MAN B&W 7S80MC (Mark VI) with total power of 25,490 kW at 79
rpm. The service speed of the ship is 16.00 knots, while the maximum
one is 17.1 knots. Ships from the class of Berge Ichiban usually
have lower speed and they are clumsier, but this crude oil carrier
was designed with high speed with low fuel consumption. The cargo
ship was built on February 2000 in the ship-yard Hitachi Zosen (now
known as Universal Shipbuilding Corporation. The cargo ship was
built for Bergesen D. Y. ASA, which is one of the largest ship-owners
of the world. The ship is double hull cargo vessel created according
to latest requirements of MARPOL73/78 and IMO. The ship is created
with increased protection for marine pollutions, in case of grounding,
accidents and collisions. The design, which was used from the Japan
ship-builders was with creating ballast tanks in the double boards
with ensured stability and increasing of meta-center height. This
reducts the free water surfaces and heeling of the ship. The application
of high quality steel plates is limited to only longitudinal for
the upper deck and the double bottom to increase and improve the
fatigue strength.
The main reason from building large ships is to be profitable.
Of course sometimes requirements of the companies for high profits
are same with requirements of IMO and ecological organizations for
low fuel consumption, improved shape of the ships and low marine
and air pollution. The cargo ship Berge Ichiban covers all these
requirements, because the ship-designers created this vessel with
energy-saving shape, which is improving the power of the main engine
and decrease the water resistance. The ship-builders also installed
enormous large bulb for crashing the waves and decrease overflow
of the bow. Also the super steam dust installed before propeller
is increasing the power given from the main engine to the ship.
This increases the speed even in heavy seas. The special paint over
the boards of Berge Ichiban is giving also good decrease of water
resistance. The ship is operating between Europe and US in regular
router through Atlantic Ocean. date: 9th May, 2009
