A new ship has docked

- The Reefer RoRo

The Reefer RoRo vessel is a standard RoRo vessel for cars, trucks and other rolling cargoes, but where the inside decks have been insulated and gas-tightened into 10 individual temperature- and controlled atmosphere zones. Adding reefer containers on-deck, the vessel is capable of loading about 13.000 tons bananas (and pineapples) northbound. On the inside decks the cargo is loaded, stowed and lashed on specially designed maffi-cassettes.

Combined with large volumes of cars, about 1200 standard size, trucks, busses and other rolling cargo including “out of cage” project cargoes, moving from the northern hemisphere to the fruit producing countries in the south, makes the Reefer RoRo design a clear winning proposition to an ever growing demand for fresh fruit, especially bananas and pineapples.

The vessel is specifically designed for the large banana- and pineapple trades between Central America to Europe- and USA, West Africa to Europe and from the Philippines to Japan, South Korea and China.

The ship has a very fast load- and discharge operation, enabling slow steaming and/or more ports to be called.

The design as a Reefer RoRo vessel is optimized to redue the environmental impact from the ocean transportation as the design allows for full utilization in both directions.

The Reefer RoRo vessels come prepared with main- and auxiliary engines powered by ammoniac, methanol (or e-biofuels), meeting the newest environmental requirements for “green” vessels. The design results in a nearly 100% CO2 reduction and meet all known environmental requirements for the global shipping industry until 2050.

As the size of the vessel and the fast port turn-time enable the vessel to call at the small- yet designated load- and discharge-ports for bananas and pineapples, the vessel will directly contribute to a significant reduction in trucking and additional feedering of cargo, which today is needed when loading containerized and where the vessels are often only calling one max two load- and discharge-ports.

The design allows the vessels to call at any of the traditional and specialized banana load- and discharge terminals, shortening landside logistics, thus reducing the CO2 impact onshore.

The vessel with its loading, lashing and cargo handling system is patented by Reefer RoRo AG.

The Reefer RoRo ship design has been developed in collaboration between Reefer RoRo AG, Naval Architects Kn. E. Hansen A/S, Denmark and Stena RoRo AB, Sweden.

The Specs

The ship is a Reefer Ro/Ro and dedicated Reefer Container ship designed for unrestricted worldwide service. Present design:

• A quarter ramp connected to the main deck at the aft of the ship, and internal ramps to and between tween-decks.
• Four tween-decks intended for cassettes with high cube banana pallets and athward-ship cooling.
• Tween-decks separated into 10 compartments with individual cooling. Gas-tight doors also to inside ramps
• Tween-decks and hoistable-decks intended for cars, vans, trucks and project cargo
• Weather deck for reefer containers (three container cranes 40 t each)

Capacity:

• 12.500 high cube banana pallets = 675,000 cartons 18.14 kgs net kg each. Alternatively 750,000 plastic boxes 18.14 net kg each
• 55 % of the pallets on cassettes inside the ship. 45 % in refrigerated containers on the weather deck.
• 1150 – 1200 cars on the inside decks

The specialized reefership fleet is aging. The average age of the ships is 29 years. Very few specialized reeferships have been built since the millennium due to the fact that they cannot compete in today’s marketplace. The drawbacks of the specialized reeferships are that they have a small loading capacity, very slow load- and discharge operation and are very manpower intensive when stevedoring is concerned.

Ole Schack Petersen

As Chairman of the BOD of Reefer RoRo AG and Executive Director at Broom Group. Since 2013 and based in Copenhagen, he worked as Director and Global Head of Reefer Marketing at Maersk Line.

He came from a position as Head of Reefer Logistics in sister company, Damco and earlier as CEO of LCL AB, Sweden, where he worked from 2004 to 2008, expanding the activities of LCL to become the largest 3pl Reefer Logistics operation in the world and after having initiated these during his tenure in South America.

From 1991 to 2003 Ole held different Managing Director positions with J Lauritzen AS in South America, latest as Regional Director and Chairman of the Boards of the many shipping and land-based logistics activities, including reefer vessel- and container liner services, 3PL dry and reefer logistics operations, container freight stations, haulage, port warehouse and terminal operations, spanning most of the South American continent.

Ole joined J. Lauritzen AS the 1^st time in 1978 as a Maritime Cadet and again at its Head-Quarter in 1982 as Commercial Shipping Trainee.

He has received a number of leadership and management educations from Insead, IMD, IE and latest IESE, Barcelona, from where Ole graduated with a Global Executive MBA in April 2012.

Birger Lindberg Skov

My background is in shipping with primary working fields within management, project development and turnarounds, as managing director or managing consultant. I have been the Managing Director of international companies.

In 1998, appointed Managing Director of Lauritzen Reefers A/S with subsidiaries around the world. The assignment was to make a turnaround in an all time low market. The turnaround was a success. Thereafter, I became Secretary General of 360 Quality Association (a new organization owned by reefer ship owners, reefer ship operators and 25 fruit port terminals around the world).

Before joining J. Lauritzen Ship Owner, I worked in four years as external consultant to the DFDS Group of Companies, especially with efficiency projects in ro/ro short sea ports in North Europe. Thereafter, DFDS appointed me Managing Director of Danish Food Transport I/S, a company owned by DFDS and ESSFOOD (now DSV). Danish Food Transport was among the largest ground transportation companies in Europe within refrigerated transport.

Also before joining J. Lauritzen Ship Owner, I was headhunted as Managing Director of GASA AARHUS A.m.b.A., a very large flower export company.

My educational background is M.Sc. (cand. merc.), Copenhagen Business School, 1972.

I am married and have two grown up children and four grandchildren.