On 16th November 2010 DFDS announced the expansion of its tonnage co-operation with the Danish and German Ministries of Defence. To accomplish this, an order for two ro-ro newbuildings was placed for delivery in 2012. Since 2003 DFDS has co-operated with the Danish Defence Forces and, since 2006, also with the German Defence Forces, for the provision of Ro-Ro capacity under the name of the ARK project. The ARK project was established in 2003 as a consequence of the Danish commitment to the Prague Capabilities Commitments meeting in November 2002. As already mentioned, this agreement now encompasses both Denmark and Germany. The ARK project requires five Ro-Ro ships and the existing fleet of the 24,613gt/1999 built Suecia Seaways, 18,725gt/1996 built Ark Futura and 24,196gt/2000 Britannia Seaways was supplemented by the 2010 contract for the new sisterships. Four of the ARK ships are on call whilst assigned to a DFDS North Sea Ro-Ro service (with varying periods of notice between 15 and 60 days whilst remaining under the Danish flag) with the fifth vessel being either available for military transports or sub chartered to the civilian market.

To date the ARK fleet has transported military equipment for England, Belgium, France, Holland, Germany, Norway, Poland, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Slovakia. The operational boundaries are generally Northern Norway, the Falkland Islands, Tanzania, Pakistan and Iraq. Denmark participates together with 25 other nations in the co-operation at Movement Co-ordination Centre Europe, where the military sealift operations are coordinated. Worthy of note is the use of the Ark Futura for the transportation of chemical weapons and materials out of Syria in 2014. The new ARK agreement was signed in 2010 with charters covering the period 2010-2021 replacing the previous agreements which expired between 2010 and 2012. The number of DFDS ships in the co-operation increased to a minimum of five from the initial fleet of two in 2010 with a stipulation for the inclusion of two newbuilds. The two new ships ordered each featured a freight capacity of 3,000 lanemetres plus a container capacity of 342 TEUs plus the design accommodates both defence as well as DFDS requirements. The total order sum was DKK 950m (€ 128m) of which 80% was financed by a 12 year loan extended by KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH.

Building the ARKs

The contract for the two new ships was placed with P+S Werften GmbH of Stralsund in Germany.

Founded in 1234, this Hanseatic city is located in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast. The merger of the shipyards Stralsund GmbH and Peene-Werft GmbH created P+S Werften in 2010. The two concerns were founded in 1945 and 1948 respectively with P+S Werften’s order book being very healthy indeed in 2010/2011 when Scandlines placed their order for two revolutionary GR12 ferries for the Rostock-Gedser service, Royal Arctic Line ordered five ships plus a 200 million Euro order was secured for the construction of two offshore installation vessels for Singapore based Offshore Installation Group (OIG), not to mention the DFDS order of course.

The yards had secured a large loan prior to the merger and, with production at full capacity and cashflow being squeezed ahead of newbuilds being completed, P+S Werften became entangled in financial woes in March 2012. Major problems with the construction/ completion of the two Scandlines ships (Berlin & Copenhagen, now being rebuilt at Fayard in Odense, Denmark) exacerbated the situation. Progress with the other contracts, the DFDS newbuilds included, also fell behind.

In July 2012 the European Commission approved a loan of €152.4 million to safeguard the yard with a condition put in place that the Federal and Regional authorities each guarantee 50% of the total loan. Alas the loan was not sufficient for the yard to complete exisiting orders and, with escalating delays with the GR12 and DFDS ships, on 20th August 2012 the shipyards in Stralsund and Wolgast filed for insolvency. The Liquidator was Hamburg based Berthold Brinkmann and in May 2013 the former Peene- Werft yard in Wolgast was sold to Bremer Lürssen with Nordic Yards acquiring the Stralsund yard on 1st June 2014. Having lost patience with the shipyard’s predicament and associated delays DFDS A/S cancelled the €128m order for the two ARK ships on 13th September 2012 citing several breaches in terms of the contract. At the turn of the New Year (2013) DFDS A/S confirmed that it had entered into negotiations with the Liquidators to purchase the incomplete ARK sisterships with an offer of €84m being made for the pair. On 17th February 2013 the discussions were successfully concluded with delivery of the first ship agreed for Q4 2013 followed by the second ship in Q1 2014. The agreed price sealed the deal with a further cost of €6m announced for specialised equipment. Work on the ships then recommenced after an 11 week break.

Newbuild No.500 from the renamed Volkswerft yard in Stralsund, later to become the Ark Germania, was rolled out of the building hall on 19th April 2013 and entered the water four days later to enable tests including the deadweight, propellers and rudders. Before the fitting out was completed the Ark Germania was christened on 23rd August 2013 by German Federal Minister of Education and Research, Dr. Johanna Wanka, at the shipyard in a ceremony attended by over 150 guests. Once smashed on the ship’s bow, the neck of the Champagne bottle was presented to the ship’s Captain, Henrik Hessellund. On the day of the naming the interior furnishing was being carried out prior to the nautical and engineering systems and equipment being checked and tested ahead of sea trials.

The Ark Germania arrived at Esbjerg in Denmark from the shipyard in Stralsund on 29th April 2014 and entered service the next morning to Immingham, her regular route. When construction resumed, the three sections of Yard No. 501 were united prior to the partially fitted out ship being rolled out and launched. The ship was then towed to the Fayard Shipyard in Odense, Denmark, on 5th May 2014 for completion. The vessel was named Ark Dania at the yard on 5th July 2014 by the Danish Defence Minister’s partner Karen Lund. State Secretary Ralf Brauksiepe from the German Ministry of Defence, Danish and German military leaders, key customers and the Lauritzen Foundation also attended the event not to mention the ship’s Captain, Jeppe H. Pedersen. Upon completion, the Ark Dania embarked on sea trials on 3rd November prior to arriving at Esbjerg on 5th November. Here she was reunited with her sistership as the latter plied to and from the U.K. The Ark Dania made her operational debut sailing to Immingham overnight on 10th November 2014. Interestingly Scandline’s rejected GR12 ferries were eventually purchased by their intended owners at a much reduced price, taken over on 12th March and towed one by one to Fayard in Odense for a rebuild to address deadweight issues.

Embarking the Cargo Two by Two

The new ARK duo is similar to the Point Class ships employed by the M.o.D that are based at Marchwood. The overall length is 195.15m with a moulded beam of 30.50m and overall beam of 33.24m. The hull depth to the main deck is 10.80m, the scantling draught is 7.00m and each ship’s air draught is 34.60m. With a gross tonnage of 33,313 and a 11,416t deadweight the ships offer 3,000 lanemetres (lm) of freight capacity and the weather deck can cater for 342 TEUs. The weather deck is equipped with a 40t capacity Liebherr crane with an outreach of 29.60m. The crane can load 225 containers (TEUs) with room for a further 79 when loaded via shore crane and/or forklift. There are 20 reefer plug-in points on the Weather Deck and 40 on the Main Deck. A hoistable car deck with an area of 1900sqm is installed on the main deck. When in position, the free height above the mezzanine deck is 2.20m and 4.70m beneath and 12 lanes of cars can be accommodated. The vehicle lane width is 2.90m on all decks and trailer capacity on board (13.6m units) totals 185. There are three fixed decks with capacities and areas as follows: Weather Deck: 1,325lm/85 trailers/ 3,840sqm; Main Deck: 1,150lm/70 trailers/3,580sqm and Tank Top: 525lm/30 trailers/1,680sqm. The total deck area is 9,100sqm and the maximum load for each deck is 3 tonnes per square metre. The superstructure is located over the aft section of the weather deck, creating a free height of 4.70m, with the accommodation being spread over three decks in the forward section of this block. The minimum free height is 4.25m (beneath the ant-heeling tanks) whilst the main deck and tank top clearances are 6.80m and 6.85m respectively. Access from the Main Deck to the Tank Top is via a fixed 4.40m wide and 6.80m clear height fixed ramp. This starboard side internal ramp is covered by a 68.25m long and 5.4m wide side hinged flush hatch at main deck level. Access from the Main Deck to the mezzanine Car Deck via a 4.40m wide and 2.20m clear height hoistable ramp whilst the Main Deck is linked to the Weather Deck via a 6.80m wide and 4.70m clear height fixed incline. The latter is fitted with a 5.8m wide and 4.7m high top hinged weather door that is closed whilst the ship is at sea.

Cargotec has supplied MacGregor Ro-Ro cargo access equipment for each ship including the stern doors/ramps, side door/ramp, mezzanine deck, movable ramp to car deck and Pilot/bunker doors.

There are no less than three ship to shore vehicle access ramps, two on the stern and one on the port side. The stern ramp (port side) is 14m long, 10m wide with two 3m flaps. The outreach is 11.85m, the height clearance for cargo is 6.80m and the maximum load is 120 tonnes. The starboard side stern ramp is 14m long, 8.5m wide with two 3m flaps. The outreach is 10.35m, the height clearance for cargo is 6.80m and the maximum load is 120 tonnes. The port side auxiliary ramp is 13m long, 10m wide with two 1m flaps. The outreach is 12.14m with clearances and maximum load matching the stern ramps. The largest bolts within the construction of each vessel are the180mm diameter, 440mm long and 88kg hinge bolts for the stern ramps. The accommodation on A Deck is divided into crew (port side) and passenger (starboard side). The crew area includes four crew cabins, the crew day and mess rooms, stores areas etc. The galley is shared by both areas and the passenger zone includes 12 cabins plus the day and mess rooms. Above is B Deck and this offers sleeping accommodation for the Officers, Captain and crew plus a gymnasium, swimming pool, day rooms, conference room and ship’s office. Atop this level is the Bridge Deck.

Powering the ARK

Each ship is powered by twin MAN B&W 8S40ME-B9.2 type main engines that each has an output of 9,080kW at 146rpm. The selection of slow speed engines is described as unusual in this type of ship but echoes their multipurpose role. One engine can power the ship at 12 knots in a military convoy and the two-stroke MAN B&W engines are tall so intrude into the main deck cargo space. MAN Diesel & Turbo SE, based in Augsburg, Germany, is the world’s leading provider of large-bore diesel engines and turbomachinery for marine and stationary applications. It designs two-stroke and four-stroke engines that are manufactured both by the company and by its licensees. The engines have power outputs ranging from 450 kW to 87 MW. MAN Diesel & Turbo also designs and manufactures gas turbines of up to 50 MW, steam turbines of up to 150 MW and more besides. The company employs around 12,700 staff at more than 100 international sites, primarily in Germany, Denmark, France, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Italy, India and China. The marine diesel engines directly drive a twin-screw propeller system that uses the new, highly-efficient 4,800mm diameter Alpha Mk. 5, type VBS1350FF-ODS propellers, which were officially launched at the SMM International Trade Fair in Hamburg during the autumn of 2010. The Full Feathering (FF) type propeller features a full feathering pitch position and also employs the Alphatronic 2000 as propulsion control system. The propulsion plant is designed for operation in various modes, such as cruising, manoeuvring and economy for military convoy sailing, with an electrical system that can handle fixed and floating frequencies. The VBS1350FF propeller hubs are a Nickel/Aluminium/Bronze Monoblock with built-in hydraulic servo motor for pitch setting. An aluminium anode for cathodic protection is mounted on the propeller hub cylinder. The propeller hub mechanism can be inspected/ dismantled from aft. The hub is designed with an extra-long servo cylinder and servo piston enabling the propeller blades to be turned into the full feathering position. The propeller tail shafts are 22,500mm long and 500mm diameter. The service speed is 18.7 knots with a top speed of 20.5 knots. When running at service speed the tips of each 13,370kg propeller travel at 36.7 metres per second (132km per hour) and the fuel consumption is 60 tonnes of heavy fuel oil per hour. On board power is provided by three MAN Holeby 16/24 generators, each with an output of 855kW at 1,000rpm. The network of cabling on the ship would stretch for 223km.

For the time being the Ark Germania and Ark Dania will ply their Ro-Ro trade across the North Sea until called upon to fulfil their military sealift duties. The two ferries certainly had a tempestuous start to their working lives but, rather like the original Ark, rode out the storm, albeit a financial one this time around!