#Ports&Shipping - Forest products operator Scotline Ltd whose vessels are regular callers to Irish east and south coast ports, have announced in partnership with a Dutch yard to exercise an option for a second newbuild of the 4785dwat Bodewes Trader design.

The newbuild's in-house design is from the yard of Royal Bodewes Group BV in Hoogezand where the cargoship is to be named MV Scot Explorer and launched in third quarter of 2019.

As previously reported on Afloat, the first newbuild MV Scot Carrier is currently under construction in Hoogezand with a launch expected to be in July and delivery in October 2018.

MV Scot Explorer will have a length of 89.98 meters and a beam of 15.20 meter and a maximum sailing draft of 5.68 meters. The newbuild will be powered by a MAK engine whilst being fully container fitted, with Swedish ice class 1B. When entering service the new ship will sail under the British Flag and classed under Lloyds Register.

The second newbuild will be a near-identical sister to MV Scot Carrier. Throughout the build of this first newbuild, both parties have had regular and open dialogue, looking at different ideas and concepts in order for the partnership to work well for both family-owned companies.

The MV Scot Explorer will be the next addition to Scotline’s fleet of 9 owned vessels, where we are looking to renew some of our older tonnage. Currently, Scotline has 15 ships in a fleet ranging from 1300dwcc to 4500dwcc, which gives a wide verity of scope for meeting customers’ varying needs.

Royal Bodewes Group which Afloat adds is located inland in the north-east of the Netherlands, employs 200 and has launched 450 ships since 1812. In modern times, Arklow Shipping have had numerous short-sea traders built at this waterway canal-side yard. Most recently, Arklow Villa launched a month ago was the final of 10 ships ordered that began in 2015 with the in-house 5,150dwat Eco-Traders series. 

Since the shipyard began more than 200 years there have been many developments and this continues with innovation in their designs as well as being dynamic in workflow and building processes which the group is constantly striving for efficiency. To accomplish this, in 2014, a new production hall was built alongside the existing hall at the shipyard in Hoogezand, which was completed in January 2015, providing additional capacity.

Now Royal Bodewes Group is developing the yard by extending the two production halls to the waterfront and thus creating two construction sites meaning two ships can be built side by side. The infrastructure outside will also be improved. This is all done to enable Royal Bodewes to minimize congestion and provide the best service to their clients, both now and in the future. Construction of the production halls is expected to be completed in autumn 2019.