The giant Norwegian bulk consortia of gearbulk and Star Shipping have been in business for over 40 years, and both were set-up by three well-known shipping companies. In contrast, the British bulk consortia of Seabridge, Celtic Bulk Carriers, Scanscot and others of the 1960s were much shorter lived, Seabridge having operated for only 19 years between 1965 and 1984.

Gearbulk

The gearbulk consortium was set-up in 1968 by Kristian Gerhard Jebsen a/S, J. Ludwig Mowinckels a/S and the Anglo- French group of Louis Dreyfus/Buries Markes. The objective was to operate bulk carriers equipped with two Munck gantry cranes in the forestry product trades. Four bulk carriers of 24,800 dwt were ordered in 1968, one pair from the Belfast yard of Harland & Wolff Ltd., and the other pair from the Middlesbrough yard of Smith’s Dock Co. Ltd. The first of the Belfast pair was launched on 22nd January 1970 as La Pampa for Buries Markes Ltd. and was completed in May, 1970, and the second was launched on 6th May 1970 as Bulk Eagle for Kriship Shipping Co. Ltd. (K. g. Jebsen a/S) and completed in September of that year. The Tees-built pair were completed for J. Ludwig Mowinckels a/S as Heina and Lista in 1970, and all four had black hulls with ‘GEAR-BULK’ painted boldly in white and black funnels with the white ‘g’ gearbulk logo. All were of the open hatch type of 17,180 grt and their diesel engines gave a good service speed of 15.5 knots. Bulk Eagle was initially managed by Buries Markes Ltd., and then in 1974 was renamed Eagle arrow by Jebsen to begin their new ‘arrow’ nomenclature.

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