Maran Dry Management Inc. (MDM), the dry bulk shipping arm of the Angelicoussis Group, recently took delivery of two Newcastlemax bulk carriers: Ubuntu Unity on 28 February 2023 and Ubuntu Community on 18 April.
Both were built by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Ship Building Co Ltd. (SWS). The two DNV-classed vessels are the first LNG-fueled bulk carriers to join the MDM fleet.
The 190,000dwt vessels, registered with the Greek flag, are the first dual-fuelled bulk carriers in the Greek market, and will sail using LNG.
The use of LNG will lead to significant reductions in CO2 and NOx, while almost eliminating SOx and particulate matter emissions.
With a combination of dual-fuel, hull optimizations and energy efficiency measures, the vessels have a very advantageous and low EEDI rating, much lower than the baseline.
The vessels are 299.8m long, 47.5m wide and 24.7m deep, with a design draft of 18.25m and a design draft speed of 14 knots.
They can use both LNG and conventional fuel and are equipped with two type-C LNG fuel tanks. The capacity of the LNG tanks means that the vessels could operate for 20,000 nautical miles powered by gas, allowing the vessels to complete two round-trip routes from China to Australia or one round-trip route from China to Brazil.
The Ubuntu vessels are on charter to global mining company Anglo American.
