Concordia eyes tanker to containership conversion
Written by Nick Blenkey
Concordia Maritime, Gothenburg, Sweden, launched a technical design study evaluating the feasibility of converting and adapting one of its nine P-MAX tankers for container transportation.
Concordia is carrying out the study in cooperation with Stena Teknik and a German consulting company specializing in ship design. The project includes preparation for “basic design” class approval.
Noting that the container segment has shown strong growth in recent years, Concordia says that the P-MAX vessels’ two engines, with full redundancy, and their dimensions, make them candidates for conversion to container vessels with a capacity of approximately 2,100 TEU.
However, with a number of technical and market challenges to be addressed, Concordia says that there is a risk that the study will lead to the project not being concluded.
The study is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter this year and—if the result is positive—it will be followed by discussions with shipyards and possible charterers to explore potential interest.
A full conversion is expected to take approximately 3–5 months to complete.
