The Ship “Nordluchs” Joins Boluda's Service

In the early hours of the morning, the container ship “Nordluchs”, flagged in Malta, arrived at the port of Santa Cruz de La Palma on its first stop, recently incorporated into Boluda Lines' service on the Canary-Mediterranean route. A few hours earlier, it had made stops in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. With the addition of this ship and its twin “Nordcheetah”, Boluda increases its cargo capacity by 40% and shortens each crossing by about six hours.

The ships “Beatriz B” and “Verónica B” are being replaced, which will move to the Cantabrian line once the current charter of the ships covering it ends. In the meantime, they will remain docked after being displaced from the Mediterranean line. The expectation is that the ship “Verónica B” will enter service next October and the ship “Beatriz B” in February 2017. Both have been chartered since November 2009 in the “bareboat” modality at an economical price to the banking entity that owns them after the collapse of Compañía Trasatlántica Española. They have a Hispanic-Cuban crew and are flagged in Madeira.

The ship “Nordluchs”, in service since 2014, is owned by the German shipping company Nord GmbH Reederei. It has a capacity of 1,730 TEUs, although in practice it carries about 1,400 containers in its various configurations. Built at the Zhejiang Ouhua Shipbuilding Zhoushan (China) shipyard, it registers 18,826 gross tons and 23,573 deadweight tons, measuring 169.96 m in length, 28.10 m in beam, and 8 m in maximum draft. Powered by a MAN B&W 6S60ME-B8.2 engine, with a power of 14,820 kW on a shaft, it allows it to maintain a speed of 18 knots. IMO Code 9673666.

View from the stern, just as the new day dawns in La Palma

Photos: Alberto Pérez Fernández