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Conversion Creates Specialised Tanker

Germany's Koetter-Werft hascompleted the conversion of the inland waterways tanker Eiltank 4 into a 1350dwt Class C double hulled vessel, its latest for Duisburg shipping company Reederei Jaegers .
Eiltank 4 following conversion.
Eiltank 4 following conversion.

The shipyard, in Haren on the Ems, inserted a new 59m long new double-hulled amidships section between existing bow and stern section during the conversion, which lasted about seven months. The addition upgraded Eiltank 4 into a Class C inland tanker suitable for the transport of cargo with a specific weight of up to 1.1t/m 3onGerman and European inland rivers and canals, among them the Rhine.

The ship is now 84.8m long but remains 9.5m wide. The technical data sheet for the conversion, provided by Reederei Jaegers, indicates however that Jaeger has an option to lengthen the ship again if needed, this time to 110m.

Eiltank 4 has five loading tanks, which have special steel coatings and no central longitudinal bulkhead, giving a transport volume of about 1,700m 3, as well as a slop tank with two transverse bulkheads each of 5m 3. There are five ballast tanks on the sides of the ship with a total capacity of 820m 3and two more at the stern, of about 30m 3. Koetter-Werft specialises in the newbuilding, repair and conversion of coastal and inland ships and boasts a 100 x 456m transverse slipway with a capacity of 2,500 tons. It has converted other Jaegers tankers in recent years among them, in 2001 the first mega inland tanker under the German flag - the 135m Josef Jaegers.

Yard Managing Director Hermann Koetter told MJ a further tanker conversion was planned at the shipyard this year but that the exact scope of the work had not yet been decided.

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Eiltank 4 following conversion.

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