Dole has deployed its new series of 25,670gt Dole Pacific class refrigerated container ships between the banana-growing countries of Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica and Guatemala and southern California’s port of San Diego.
Built by South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard at a cost of $56 million each, the 190m by 30m Dole Pacific, Dole Atlantic and Dole Caribbean have a capacity of 770FEU each, with a handling rate of nearly 50 boxes per hour achievable using twin Liebherr 40‑ton rail-mounted gantry cranes.
Propulsion is provided by a MAN 8L70ME-C8 two-stroke engine, while four diesel generator sets provide electricity for the container cooling and ventilation systems.
The new trio of 27,513dwt ships is replacing a series of smaller 791FEU capacity vessels built between 1989 and 1991. JS
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