News Archive 2006

Only shortly after the delivery of her sisters, BBC Ems, BBC Weser and BBC Elbe, the BBC Mississippi was delivered to BBC in Xingang on December 23, 2006. The maiden voyage took her from Japan to the States, carrying steel rails of 24 m length. Due to the length of the cargo holds, this type of vessels is especially suitable for this kind of cargoes. While most vessels of this type possess 3 x 60 mts cranes, all six sistervessels delivered to BBC have 3 x 80 mts cranes.

Premiere in Berlin – for the first time, the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry awarded the best trainees of whole Germany. 212 trainees were awarded out of a total of 313.000. And the winner of the category Trampshipping was Ulrich (Ulli) Nüßmann of BBC Chartering & Logistic in Leer.

The Awards were handed over in the hangars of the old Tempelhof Airport of Berlin. A good show was provided, the German TV was on-site. Ulli was accompanied by his parents and Janneke Siemer, assigned apprenticeship supervisor of BBC. After completing his traineeship with BBC, Leer, Ulli joined the Chartering Department of BBC in Houston and will be back “home” in summer 2007.

The BBC Weser, second newbuild out of a series of six was christened in Campana/Argentina on November 16. Godmother of the 21,000 tonner is Mrs. Florencia Maria Urcula, who struck the bottle of champagne at the first try.

The event was joined by Angelika Rieken, representing the owner, Messrs. Briese Schiffahrt, Lars Schönnemann, Chartering Manager and Myriam Diephaus, Marketing Manager of BBC Chartering & Logistic as well as members of BBC Argentina and Agencia Maritima Robinson.

Next sistervessel to be delivered is the BBC Elbe, to be followed by BBC Mississippi, BBC Amazon and BBC Sjard in 2007.

After several years as friendly competitors, the two veteran companies, BBC Chartering & Logistic of Leer, Germany, and Caytrans Project Services Americas Ltd., New Orleans, Louisiana, have decided to join forces in the Caribbean/NCSA/ECSA trade.

The new joint venture, CAYTRANS BBC LLC, is a Louisiana domiciled company and has a tariff on file with the FMC. The new service will be managed by Dan-Gulf Shipping, Inc. which just recently returned to their offices in New Orleans after having completed renovations at their office building which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

CAYTRANS BBC has the ability to tap into the large fleet of multipurpose tweendeckers operated by BBC. Currently, CAYTRANS BBC LLC has two shallow draft heavy lift multi- purpose tweendeck vessels engaged in the service, the M/V Santiago and the M/V Nils B. The service has regularly scheduled calls between Mobile and Houston to Colombia NCSA and frequently calls the East Coast of South America and Caribbean ports en-route.

The line focuses principally on carrying project cargoes such as mining and oil well equipment and heavy lifts and also will carry IMO and bulk cargo. "We'll basically load whatever our clients require of us in this service", said Lowell Stewart, Vice President of Dan-Gulf.

Sales will be handled by BBC USA in Houston, who is providing both inside and outside sales in the Texas region, and by Dan-Gulf from their New Orleans' office.

Svend Andersen, Managing Director of BBC, Leer and Niels Busse, President of Dan-Gulf Shipping, agreed it made sense to share the combined wealth of experience and information they've gained over the last decade in the project market, as well as accessing tonnage from the modern well-equipped BBC fleet. "We see this new joint venture as a unique opportunity for continued growth in a market area where both parties have been operating since inception of their respective companies", said Mr.Busse. Mr. Andersen agreed and added, "We're also excited through this venture to have a presence in New Orleans at this special time in the city's history."

On December the 12th, 2006 the BBC Elbe was christened in Rotterdam. Angelika Rieken, Silke Mathey and Bernd Hartmann representing the owner, Messrs. Briese Schiffahrt joined the godmother, Janneke Siemer of BBC Chartering & Logistic, Leer at this special day.

The christening took place at the Steinweg Terminal with three fascinating cascos on deck, each 110 m long. BBC Elbe was on her maiden voyage from China to Rotterdam, Hamburg and Rotterdam. The cascos, weighing 650 mts each, were discharged in Rotterdam by floating cranes.