UPM Logistics to charter seven LNG fueled newbuilds

120 m Bore RoLO trio will be built by Wuhu Shipyard

Helsinki, Finland, headquartered UPM Logistics says that it has entered into a long-term charter agreement with Finland’s Bore Ltd and Defzijl, Netherlands, based Wijnne Barends that will see the design and building of seven state-of-the-art vessels for sustainable sea transportation for UPM in Europe.

Bore Ltd will build three three RoLo vessels for transporting UPM’s paper products and Wijnne Barends four LoLo vessels for transporting the company’s pulp and other forest products. The vessels will be built in China and are scheduled to be delivered in 2021 and 2022. When taken into service, the vessels will employ approximately 60 maritime transportation professionals.

Bore and Wijnne Barents are both affiliates of the Netherlands basecSpliethoff Group. Together,

“This arrangement is a consistent step in UPM’s logistics strategy. It will safeguard a sustainable, competitive and reliable shipping solution for our businesses and customers on long term,” says Lauri Rikala, Director, Global Break Bulk Shipping, UPM Logistics.

All vessels are time chartered by UPM and will be fully operated by the company. They will be ice-strengthened and meet the latest technological, operational and environmental standards.

“The vessels will be fueled with liquid natural gas (LNG) which results in a significant (approximately 25%) reduction of CO2 emissions compared with commonly used marine gas oil. In addition, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sufur oxides (SOx) emissions will decrease approximately 85% and 99%, respectively. The emissions of soot particles will also decrease by 99%.”

“Since the establishment of Spliethoff in1921, the company has been transporting forest products for our clients – it’s in our DNA”, says Michael van den Heuvel, CCO of Spliethoff. “We are very pleased to be able to offer UPM these next generation sustainable vessels. Minimizing our environmental footprint has long been a focal point for the Spliethoff Group and the reduction of emissions is a fundamental part of this. The new vessels running on LNG fit well in our continuous drive for greener operations.”

Bore Ltd says it has signed a newbuilding contract with China’s Wuhu Shipyard for its three new 7,000 dwt LNG-powered RoLo vessels. They will be built during 2020-2021.The vessel main particulars are; length 120 m, width 21m, and a speed of about 15 knots for suitable and economical transport solutions in the trade. They will be built to Swedish/Finnish ice class1A.

They will have dual fuel engines, but will mainly operate on LNG.