Flensburg Shipbuilder Delivers Ultramodern, Eco-Friendly RoFlex Vessel "Bore Song"

Finnish shipping company Bore Ltd took delivery of the "Bore Song", the second of the two 2,900 lane metre RoFlex vessels ordered from Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft in Germany. KfW IPEX-Bank provided and structured the financing for both vessels and thereby contributing to protect the environment and the climate as well as to strengthen the German shipbuilding and domestic export industry. The construction of the two vessels is not only of great importance to the shipbuilding site of Flensburg - it is also a milestone in the development of new environmentally friendly technologies for the ocean shipping industry.

The ships are modern 2,900 lane metre RoFlex vessels that have hoistable car decks and are able to accommodate containers, double stack mafis and RoRo freight as well as oversized SECU-boxes for transporting newspaper reels, which are important for the paper industry. The ships are certified ice class 1A vessels, which qualifies them for year-round deployment in the North and Baltic Seas.

What makes the ships so eco-friendly is the hydrodynamically optimised hull shape and the Wärtsilä common rail engine, which saves considerable amounts of fuel. They consume around six tonnes less fuel per day than comparable, state-of-the-art models at the same speed and transport capacity. This translates into a CO2-reduction of around 10%. The shape of the rudder and propeller has also been optimised, enabling additional fuel savings of 5-10% at low speeds. The ships also comply with new international ballast water treatment regulations (to control alien species introduction, among other purposes) with an innovative BWT (ballast water treatment) system that uses mechanical filters as well as UV light, and which has been installed by a German shipyard for the first time.

The financing covers around 80% of the order value and is Euler-Hermes covered. It is also tied into the German ship CIRR (Commercial Interest Reference Rate). The loans have a term of 12 years.

The Finnish shipping company Bore is a traditional family-owned enterprise established more than 100 years ago. It operates a fleet of 19 RoRo vessels, general cargo vessels and car carriers.