Duisburg / Salzgitter. HGK Shipping is having a new, low-emissions dry goods vessel constructed, which will be specially tailored to the requirements of Salzgitter Flach-stahl. The HGK Group’s inland waterway shipping company has now placed the order for the relevant new structure with the De Gerlien van Tiem shipyard in the Dutch town of Druten. Equipped with a diesel-electric drive system and solar panels and designed to be “future-fuel-ready”, the new vessel will make a decisive contribution to the sus-tainability ambitions of HGK Shipping and Salzgitter AG. The new vessel is being con-structed as part of the recently agreed long-term partnership between the two compa-nies. Once it goes into service, it will replace one of the three vessels from the existing fleet, that are currently being used, in line with the recently signed time charter agreement.
The committed teams from both the companies are working extremely hard to jointly develop efficient and climate-friendly solutions for steel logistics on inland waterways. The newly con-structed vessel is an important development within their recently signed cooperation agree-ment. It is the declared intention of the partners that more innovative vessels will follow.
Modern shipping space for steel supply chains
The design of the dry goods vessel for steel supply chains has been drawn up and finalised by the team working at the HGK Shipping Design Center. Powered with a diesel-electric drive system, the vessel once again has a design that enables it to be retrofitted to handle forward-looking drive systems and types of fuel. This also includes the option of installing a void space in the midships section of the vessel in future. Solar panels will also be installed on the lids of the hatches to obtain electrical energy in a climate-neutral way. This energy will not only be integrated into the onboard power grid but will also, for the first time, be fed into the propulsion system. The goods vessel explicitly caters for the needs of Salzgitter AG in terms of its dimensions, design and the shape of the cargo space. The vessel, which can navigate canals, is 86 metres long and 9.5 metres wide and has a payload capacity of 1,535 tonnes. It is scheduled to be used for alternating services between the Salzgitter business sites and its customers in the Netherlands and Belgium in order to transport raw and input materials for steel manufacturing, such as scrap steel.
Illustration of the newly constructed dry goods vessel for Salzgitter Flachstahl (Copyright: HGK Shipping)
Andreas Lemme, the Managing Director of HGK Dry Shipping GmbH, comments, “Modern shipping space forms the basis for ensuring the future viability of dry goods shipping. Long-term and close strategic partnerships such as the one with Salzgitter AG are boosting our efforts to achieve sustainability. Working together, we can continue our journey towards achieving climate neutrality in a consistent and targeted manner.”
Tim Gödde, the Business Unit Director Ship Management at HGK Shipping GmbH, adds, “Thanks to the new vessel, we’ll be able to make significant savings in CO2 emissions in comparison with current drive systems on comparable dry goods shipping vessels. Further savings potential will emerge from future drive concepts and fuels, which we’ve already taken into consideration in the design.”
HGK Shipping is once again relying on its tried and tested working relationship with the Dutch De Gerlien van Tiem shipyard for this new vessel. It has already supported the inland waterway shipping company in introducing innovative shipping space on several occasions. The dry goods vessel is due to go into service in July 2025.
