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April 2005 69 Geest North Sea Line has taken a sig- nificant step forward in its plans to expand its intermodal door-to-door capacity with the introduction into serv- ice of Geeststroom, the first of two 812 TEU containerships that were ordered in 2003 from the Damen Shipyards Group by the German shipowner Jorg Kopping. More than twice the size of the largest ship in the Geest fleet, she will be employed on Geest's routes between Rotterdam and Tilbury and Rotterdam and Hull. Geeststroom and her sister, Geestdijk, due for delivery in April 2005, have been built specifically for long-term charter to the Dutch shortsea and inter- modal specialist. Designed to meet Geest's particular requirement for a vessel able to carry a full load of 45 ft. pallet-wide containers or a mix of 45 footers plus heavy 20 ft. tanks and 30 ft. bulk containers, the two ships were constructed by Damen Shipyards Galatz in Romania. According to Wout Pronk, Geeststroom will be used alongside other Geest ships on the Hull and Tilbury routes until her sister ship is available. "We will make use of Geeststroom at both Hull and Tilbury, as required, in combination with Rotterdam, our central hub on the Continent. We are looking for very fast turnaround times, which will require efficient operations at all terminals. There will continue to be daily depar- tures on both services. Once we have both ships available, we may run them in tandem, either on the Hull or Tilbury routes." Geest is totally committed to the expansion of European shortsea ship- ping and, in particular, to greater use of intermodal options including rail and inland waterway transport in Europe. However, to be competitive with 13.6m road trailers, we have had to replace our entire container fleet with 45 ft. pal- letwide containers. Unfortunately, no-one yet has built a containership specifically designed around the 45ft box and so any vessel we have chartered has always been a compromise. Geeststroom has changed all that. The owner, Mr. Kopping, went into more detail regarding the new ship's design. "Geest is not only interested in 45ft containers. Many of its quay-to- quay customers are NVOs with ship- pers' owned equipment operating tanks and dry bulk units. Consequently, Geest also required a ship with a good dead- weight able to accommodate heavy 20 ft. and 30 ft. containers." Circle 28 on Reader Service Card REMOTELY MANAGE VESSEL BASED IT SeaWave Remote Management Suite (RMS) provides labor saving IT tools that put IT tasks back in the hands of onshore IT personnel. SeaWave's RMS solution allows your shore-based team to remotely manage, monitor and control data, perform system upgrades/ maintenance, troubleshoot, and carry out training for vessel based systems. Combined with SeaWave's advanced throughput technology, RMS is the most powerful and cost effective solution available. SeaWave's RMS Solution: SNAP (SeaWave Network Access Protocol): Connect into the vessel based PC/Network and completely control keyboard, mouse and monitor – Quickly solve systems issues without involving vessel end user. SAFE (SeaWave Automatic File Exchange): Remotely administer files, initiate applications and synchronize folders between ship and shore – Automate and create custom schedules. SABR (SeaWave Address Book Replication): Automatically control and update the corporate address book with the entire fleet by synchronizing with the home office Mail Server - Vary by fleet or vessel. FORM (SeaWave Form Transmission): Improve the way data is transferred between ship and shore – Send data, not costly format overhead. STAR (SeaWave Tracking And Reporting): Monitor vessel or an entire fleet's location and activity – Quick viewing also available on Web. Contact a SeaWave specialist today to reduce your communication costs! (800) 746-6251 sales@seawave.com www.seawave.com Circle 286 on Reader Service Card Geest North Sea Line takes delivery of Geeststroom New 812 TEU ships designed specifically to carry 45 ft. containers MR APRIL 2005 #9 (65-72).qxd 4/5/2005 9:11 AM Page 5
