NKK (Nippon Kokan) of Japan recently delivered the 42,000-dwt car/bulk carrier Merak Eighty, fitted with temporarily hoistable cardecks, to Irvine Shipping Inc. of Liberia. Shin-ichi Hirayama, president of NKK America Incorporated, said the bulk carrier is NKK's first new vessel equipped with such hoistable decks. She was built at the Shimizu Shipyard.
The cardeck installation, called NKK-Kvaerner Hoistable Car Deck System, is applicable to vessels having topside wing tanks, and provides temporary decks in the recessed space between the topside tanks and the tank tops by utilizing hold space to a minimum.
Merak Eighty has a length between perpendiculars of 184.50 meters, molded beam of 30.48 meters, molded depth of 17.75 meters, and draft of 11.55 meters (605.3/100/58.2/37.9 feet). Her single main engine is a NKK S.E.M.T. Pielstick 10PC4-V570 diesel with a maximum continuous rating of 15,000 bhp at 400 rpm, providing a service speed of 15.1 knots. Car capacity is approximately 2,650 units.
The basic concept of the hoistable deck technology is that when the ship hauls bulk cargo, large, steel-plate temporary decks, suspended by wires from the topside tanks, are hoisted up and held firmly under the tanks. When the carrier transports automobiles, the temporary decks are lowered.
The new carrier is also equipped with a conventional pontoon-type, cardeck system. This system provides temporary decks in the central part of the holds when the carrier transports automobiles. When she carries bulk cargo, cranes lift the temporary decks onto the main deck.
The hoistable cardeck system is one of two temporary cardeck systems for which NKK has been licensed under a technical cooperation agreement with Kvaerner Brug A/S of Norway. The other is known as the Kvaerner-Kaldones (K-K) Car Deck System.
The K-K deck system has been developed for use in open-type bulk carriers utilizing vertical cargo holds. In this system, temporary decks are stacked vertically alongside the hold bulkheads when bulk cargo is loaded. When cars are carried, the decks are put in place beginning from the bottom of the hold. The K-K deck system is also applicable to vessels having topside wing tanks.
Temporary cardecks will be highly effective when both hoistable and K-K systems are used in combination car/bulk carriers. Compared with conventional temporary deck systems, these NKK-Kvaerner cardeck systems are said to feature larger temporary decks and relatively simple guide facilities for positioning them.