NYK to Order Two WOZMAX Ore Carriers
March 19, 2007
Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK; Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Koji Miyahara) has reached an agreement with Namura Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. (Head office: Nishi-ku, Osaka) to order two 250,000-ton ore carriers, referred to as WOZMAX* ore carriers. This will be the first time for an ore carrier of this size to be built. Both vessels are to be completed by 2010 and 2011, and will be used for ore transport from Western Australia.
A signing ceremony was held on March 19 at the Palace Hotel in Tokyo. From Namura Shipbuilding, Mr. Tatsuhiko Namura, president; Mr. Shuzou Yoshioka; director, executive officer, and senior general manager of the Shipbuilding and Offshore Division; and Mr. Mikinori Ikeda, executive officer and deputy senior general manager of the Shipbuilding and Offshore Division; were in attendance. They were joined from NYK by Mr. Shinji Kobayashi, managing director; Mr. Hidenori Hono, managing corporate officer; and Mr. Hiroshi Hiramatsu, corporate officer.
Due to design limitations on the load draft of ships transporting ore from Western Australia, conventional carriers were generally only built to have a maximum 230,000-ton loading capacity. However, through cooperative efforts from the initial planning stage, NYK was able to develop a larger carrier. This will allow the company to stay competitive by better responding to the recent increasing demand for ore transport.
NYK will continue to strive to increase its competitiveness and improve the quality of its services by proactively making efforts to strengthen its equipment and facilities, including developing new vessels.
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 From left Mr.Mr. Shuzou Yoshioka; director, executive officer, and senior general manager of the Shipbuilding and Offshore Division (Namura Shipbuliding Co.,Ltd.) Mr. Hidenori Hono, managing corporate officer(NYK) Mr. Tatsuhiko Namura, president(Namura Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.) Mr. Shinji Kobayashi, managing director(NYK) Mr. Hiroshi Hiramatsu, corporate officer(NYK) Mr. Mikinori Ikeda, executive officer and deputy senior general manager of the Shipbuilding and Offshore Division(Namura Shipbuilding Co.,Ltd.) |
*WOZMAX
The name of a newly designed 250,000-ton ore carrier built by Namura Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. The "W" stands for Western Australia, "OZ" is common slang for Australia, and "MAX" refers to the maximum-size vessel for ore transport from Western Australia. Namura Shipbuilding hopes this newly designed vessel will receive a warm welcome at ports around the world.