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18 November 2016   |   Announcements

Golden Bay's new Chief

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Happy
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Crew lineup 15.15.16

Golden Bay's new cement ship

Golden Bay Cement’s new bulk cement carrier was named the MV Aotearoa Chief at a ceremony in Auckland.

The ship is being chartered to Golden Bay – a division of Fletcher Building - by China Navigation Company (CNCo), the deep sea ship operating arm of the multi-national Swire Group.

The MV Aotearoa Chief will make over 80 voyages each year from GBC's Portland cement plant near Whangarei to distribution centres in Auckland, Tauranga, Napier, Wellington, as well as expanded services to New Plymouth and Picton.

Purpose-built as a cement carrier, the vessel is 125 metres long and 20 metres in breadth and is capable of carrying up to 9,000 tonnes of cement – equivalent to 360 truck loads. It has a range of 5600 nautical miles.

Designed as ‘best in class’ the vessels propulsion system is environmentally friendly with optimised energy efficiency design (EEDI), advanced flexible fuel injection system leading to efficient fuel consumption and low emissions.

Equipped with advanced navigational systems, leading edge technology and control systems for vessel and cargo handling operations. Latest safety and navigational safety aids meet and exceed regulatory requirements.

Two crews of 14 people each will man the ship, with each crew working 28 days on board at a time, with another 8 land based technical and logistics support staff.