Fednav to add four more bulk carriers to its Great Lakes fleet

Fednav has ordered four more dry bulk carriers from Oshima shipyard, in Japan.

The vessels are scheduled to join Fednav’s fleet in 2018. To this day, Fednav has 15 vessels on order, of which 9 will be owned and operated (8 lakers and one Supramax) and 6 to be dedicated to long term chartering (3 lakers, 3 Ultramax)

These new built will also have the same advanced environmental specificities than the latest Fednav ship, the Federal Biscay, delivered in October 2015. This was the first of the company’s new vessels which transited the Great Lakes to be equipped with a ballast water treatment system (BWTS). Fednav is the first shipping company on the Great Lakes to have a vessel equipped with a BWTS.

The BallastAce system developed by JFE Engineering Corporation uses a sophisticated filter combined with a sodium hypochlorite injection mechanism to be effective in both fresh and salt water. The sodium hypochlorite, a.k.a. laundry bleach, ensures that any creature that gets past the filter will still be killed. The chemical dissipates on its own within a few days, just as chlorine does in a swimming pool.