ForestWave's fourth eco-friendly multipurpose vessel emerges from Dutch yard

Dutch Ferus Smit shipyard recently launched the fourth unit in a series of six eco-friendly, fuel-efficient 12,500 dwt general cargo ships being built for compatriot maritime and offshore logistics player ForestWave Navigation.

As disclosed, the newbuilding—christened FWN Adriatic—was splashed on May 23 in the city of Leer, Germany, which is near the border with the Netherlands. The unit, along with its sister vessels, is said to be an ‘upgrade’ of the Ecobox and Ecobox DP series that the yard has been constructing over the years.

According to Ferus Smit, the new Ecobox XL design was developed to fit extra-long cargo, such as wind turbine blades, while keeping the vessel’s ‘versatility’ as a general cargo ship. The design modifications were done to ‘boost’ environmental performance and accomplish a greater reduction in the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI).

To this end, the original Ecobox hull was reportedly lengthened by over 21 meters, while the box-shaped cargo hold stretches more than 100 meters on the tank top and 112 meters above the movable tweendeck.

As divulged, fuel consumption on board the 143.78-meter-long FWN Adriatic and the