The Rickmers Group adds a tenth MPC to its fleet

Rickmers Masan destined for longterm charter to Hyundai Merchant Marine

The Rickmers Group has taken delivery of Rickmers Masan, its tenth MPC (multi-purpose carrier). Built at the Jingling yard in China, the new vessel is the first in a series of four Superflex Heavy MPC vessels that are being long-term chartered to Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) for a period of eight years. They will operate a new HMM service linking the Far East with the Middle East.

The naming of Rickmers Masan and her renaming as Hyundai Masan took place in brilliant sunshine in the port of Masan, Korea, on 18 November 2010. Her sponsor, Ms Ji-Yi Chung, Executive Vice President of Hyundai Merchant Marine, smashed the traditional bottle of champagne against the bow of the vessel and wished Captain Pavlo Buturlakin, his crew and the ship "fair sailing and a hand's breadth of water under your keel at all times".

At just over 190m in length and with a deadweight capacity of 30,000 tons, Rickmers Masan is similar to the Rickmers fleet's Hamburg class ships, a type of vessel that has been deployed with enormous success in Rickmers-Linie's Round-The-World Pearl String Service since 2002. She is equipped with two 320-tonne cranes capable of twinning for a maximum load of 640 tonnes.

Jan Boje Steffens welcomed this development in the relationship between his company and HMM, saying "this charter agreement is a renewed expression of the successful cooperation that has linked the two companies for some considerable time".

Earlier this year, Rickmers (Japan) Inc, the office of Rickmers-Linie in Tokyo, had been appointed general agent for HMM in Japan. As a consequence, Rickmers (Japan) Inc is now able to offer Japanese shippers the HMM Services to the Middle East, complementing Rickmers-Linie's services to North and Central America.

Among those attending the christening ceremony were high-ranking representatives of HMM and Rickmers: Mr S H Lee (Representative Director HMM), Mr H G Choi (Head of Bulk Unit HMM), Mr J H Kim (Vice President/ Bulk Division HMM), Mr Jan Boje Steffens (CEO and Managing Partner of Rickmers Group), Mr Paul Dolan (a director of the Rickmers Group company Polaris), Mr Jens Lassen (Head of Global ShipmanagementRickmers Group and Managing Director RickmersReederei) and Arnim von der Lieth (Director New Building Department Rickmers Group).

-ends-

Notes to Editor

Downloadable photographs to accompany the press release are available at http://www.dunelmpr.co.uk/RickmersGroup-PhotoGallery-NEW.html and www.rickmers.com.

The captions read:

"The Rickmers-owned Hyundai Masan loads in Shanghai for her maiden voyage. She has been chartered for eight years to Hyundai Merchant Marine for its Far East - Middle East Gulf service."

And

"Representatives of Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) and of the Rickmers Group, together with the sponsor Ms Ji-Yi Chung, Executive Vice President of HMM, gathered in the port of Masan, South Korea, to christen the 30,000dwt Hyundai Masan."

Information about the manifold activities of the Rickmers Group is available at www.rickmers.com.