Cassens has now started building the first of three 712 TEU ships for Bremen shipowner Reederei Harren & Partners. The ship was for delivery late June next year.

A second was also for delivery in 2005 and the last ship in 2006.

In order to keep to the deadline, some bow and stern sections were being manufactured in Bremen and Bremerhaven.

Now that financing and a local state bank guarantee have been arranged, yard MD Christian Hohagen is also hoping for conversion of options for three further feeder ships.

Similar to earlier 700 TEU feeders built by Cassens in the late 1990s for Dutch and Chinese interests, like Prosrich and Heng Yu , the ships will be 127m long, 20.4m wide and of 8430dwt drawing 7.7m. They will have a hold capacity of 417,000m 3and will carry 245 TEUs in the hold and 467 TEUs on deck.

The latest ships will however reportedly have slight modifications and also more powerful MaK main engines than the earlier ships - of 7200kW developing 18 knots instead of the previous 6,000kW.

Early this year, when feeders for the yard were first mooted, Hohagen also reported Portuguese interest in a shallow-water passenger/car ferry similar to the 70.7m Frisia 1V built by Cassens in 2002. He also said the yard was still seeking more Mini cruise ship work. It has built three such ships in recent years.