The Clipper Group of Copenhagen today operates a huge fleet of over two hundred owned and chartered vessels with around one hundred fully or partly owned in the dry cargo bulk and project cargo trades. The Group also has a significant presence in a range of other maritime activities such as tankers, loggers, ferry services, cruise ships and ro-ro shipping, the latter being the important Irish Sea freight operator of Seatruck Ferries. All of this has been achieved in a relatively short span of time, from a dozen chartered vessels in the range of 9,000 dwt to 12,000 dwt forty years ago to a vast fleet operating worldwide today, and managed and operated from offices in Copenhagen, Nassau, Stamford (Connecticut), Houston (Texas), Barranquilla (Colombia), Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Dubai, Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian, Tokyo, Singapore and Melbourne.

EARLY BEGINNINGS

Torben Gulnar Jensen started his career in shipping in 1959 as a trainee in an office of one of the many shipping companies that operated in Copenhagen at that time. On 1st October 1972, Torben and a former colleague, Jorgen Dannesboe, set up Armada Shipping ApS (ASA) of Copenhagen using chartered vessels. On formation, Armada Shipping also set up several Clipper companies as an integral part of Armada e.g. Clipper Shipping Co. Ltd., Panama; Clipper Shipping Co. Ltd., Liberia; Clipper Shipping Co. Inc., Delaware to act as shipowning companies. Armada Bulk Carriers was formed in 1976 with ‘Armada’ in large letters on both sides of the hulls of chartered vessels, and later Armada Lines and the joint venture Armada Global West Africa Line. The partners began using the prefix ‘Clipper’ for their chartered vessels in 1982 on the bulkers Clipper Hope and Clipper Star, followed by a dozen new vessels under construction in Japan for charter in the range of 9,000 dwt to 12,000 dwt. These were completed as Clipper Bueno, Clipper Challenge, Clipper Confidence, Clipper Courage, Clipper Crusader, Clipper Eagle, Clipper Emerald, Clipper Flame, Clipper Maestro, Clipper Pioneer, Clipper Spirit, and Clipper Tiger. Clipper Pioneer, Clipper Confidence and several other chartered vessels were regular traders into Blyth with alumina for the Alcan smelter at Lynemouth.

Torben G. Jensen and Jorgen Dannesboe decided to part amicably in November 1991, and the Clipper Group became an independent entity as a result of the restructuring of the Armada Group, with Torben taking the Clipper companies. Clipper had expanded within a year of the 1991 split to control a fleet of over sixty vessels ranging in size from 4,000 dwt to 65,000 dwt. Included in this total were a number of the well known standard IHI of Japan ‘F’ bulker classes of ‘Freedom’ and ‘Fortune’, and had been chartered from Pyrsos Maritime of Greece as Clipper Amethyst, Clipper Amaryllis, Clipper Antares, Clipper Aquamarine and Clipper Atria in the 17,700 dwt to 23,500 dwt range. The company also entered shipowning in a joint venture with Polska Zegluga Morska by ordering two new bulkers of 16,900 dwt from the Polish shipyard of Stocznia Szczecinska. These were completed in September and December of 1994 as Clipper Eagle and Clipper Falcon.

Clipper Denmark A/S was established in 1994 and began operating the bulker Super Spirit of 17,825 dwt built in 1985 to a standard design in Takamatsu in Japan. She was renamed as Clipper Spirit in 1997 for Clipper Spirit Shipping A/S, and subsequently many Clipper vessels were transferred to Clipper Denmark A/S, the current fleet standing at two dozen bulkers.

DOCKENDALE SHIPPING CO. LTD

This management company was founded in the Bahamas in June, 1973 by the famous Scottish naval architect George T. R. Campbell, designer of the IHI standard ‘F’ types of Freedom, Fortune, Friendship and Freedom Mark II. Dockendale began by managing the new Japanese ‘Fortune’ types Athol and Attica of 22,300 dwt. The company was named after the Scottish farm where the founder was born, but became dormant in 1974 and was reactivated in 1985. Clipper became a minority shareholder shortly afterwards in the company located at Dockendale House in Nassau, and it later became a wholly owned subsidiary in 2006 with a fleet of twenty bulkers.

Clipper vessels managed by Dockendale in the 1990s included Clipper Alpha, Clipper Faith, Clipper Fiesta, Clipper Frontier, Clipper Fantasy, Clipper Kawa, Clipper Mandarin, Clipper Majestic, Clipper Melody, Clipper Mirage and Clipper Yama of up to 29,070 dwt. They were operated worldwide but were particularly active in the Chilean nitrate and Caribbean bulk trades. Clipper Majestic of 17,150 dwt grounded in the River Orinoco at Mile 30 on 28th October 1994 while making a loaded passage of the river from Matanzas with iron ore to the sea. She could not refloat herself but with tug assistance she was able to resume her voyage to the Panama Canal and Yokohama. The same vessel had earlier encountered engine trouble while on a loaded voyage from Callao (Peru) to Sasebo, sailing on 19th March 1991, and she finally arrived in the Japanese port on 5th May in tow of the tug Panama Chief after a long voyage.

CLIPPER ELITE CARRIERS A/S (CEC)

On 1st July 1999, the financially troubled Elite Shipping A/S of Copenhagen formed a joint venture company with Clipper as Clipper Elite Carriers A/S (CEC). The Elite fleet had a nomenclature of a prefix ‘Arktis’, and all 65 vessels were renamed e.g. Arktis Pioneer became CEC Pioneer, and 51 of this big fleet had lifting capacities of one hundred tonnes or over. The newly formed CEC won a contract in September, 1999 to transport 60,000 tonnes of heavy lift and project cargo to the new Dabhol power station in India. Clipper then purchased all of the CEC fleet over the next three years with the last four vessels purchased in September 2002. The CEC naming system continued until either the vessels were sold off or renamed with ‘Clipper’ prefixes. There were only 25 vessels with ‘CEC’ prefixes in 2003 and only ten vessels with ‘CEC’ prefixes in 2011.

A new class of eight ‘C’ vessels with twin heavy lift cranes of 150 tonnes capacity were built in China by the Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai and had come into service by 1999. They were ordered for a joint venture set up in 1997 with Graig Ship Management Ltd. of Cardiff, a descendant company of a long established Cardiff tramping fleet. The ‘C’ class are of 8,800 dwt and were completed with the names of Welsh castles as Clipper Cardiff, Clipper Caldicot, Clipper Cardigan, Clipper Carmarthen, Clipper Chepstow, Clipper Confidence, Clipper Conway, and Clipper Cowbridge. All of the class were short term chartered out to Maersk Line, Delmas, Seaboard Marine of Miami and Far Eastern owners before they received their ‘CEC’ prefix to their names. A second ‘C’ class identical octet was completed during 2000/01 by the same Chinese yard as CEC Caledonia, CEC Castle, CEC Century, CEC Champion, CEC Copenhagen, CEC Courage, CEC Crusader and CEC Culembourg. Clipper Confidence had been the first in this series of heavy lift vessels when launched on 8th January, 1997 at Shanghai and was completed on 1st June 1997, with CEC Century the last to be completed in April 2002. There were actually 19 vessels in this series, the remaining three being completed as Tracer, Tramper and Transporter for the BigLift B.V. heavy lift pool of Holland with two heavy lift cranes of 275 tonnes capacity.

A valuable contract was won in June, 2001 by CEC to transport heat recovery steam generators between North America and Asia on its heavy lift ships for Deltak of Minneapolis. Another valuable contract was won in February 2004 to ship 21 complete wind turbine units from Aabenraa in Denmark to Wick in Scotland for the ‘Causeymite’ wind farm. The total project cargo volume was 35,000 cubic metres and was transported in seven shipments. Project and heavy lift cargoes were carried worldwide, and CEC Meadow of 8,500 dwt, one of eight ‘M’ class ships, and built at Aarhus in 1995 lifted a heavy construction cargo at a quay in the shadow of the iconic Tees Transporter Bridge at Middlesbrough in May 2003.

The five vessel ‘Explorer’ class of 11,950 dwt and equipped with two heavy lift cranes of 150 tonnes capacity, was completed in 2001 by the Dalian Shipyard Ltd. in China for the company as CEC Anax, CEC Arctic, CEC Arnax, CEC Atlas and CEC Apollon. CEC and Thor Chartering A/S of Svendborg entered into a commercial and strategic alliance in February 2002. The ten Thor vessels combined with the sixty of CEC to give a pool of seventy vessels with a heavy lift capability of up to 400 tonnes. In August, 2006, Clipper Elite Carriers A/S sold its 60% stake in project and heavy lift CEC Lines to the Oldendorff shipping group of Lubeck in Germany. The twin heavy lift cranes of fifty tonnes capacity of CEC Liberty of 5,400 dwt, built at Ringkobing in 1994, were put to good use in July 2007 to lift containers from a grounded Maersk Line container ship chartered from Thomas Schulte Reederei of Germany off the coast of West Africa.

CEC Future of 7,120 dwt and completed at Aarhus in 1994, was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden on 7th November 2008 while on a voyage from the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal to Asia. She had a Russian crew and was forced to anchor off the coast of Somalia, and was only released two months later after a ransom was dropped by parachute to the hijackers. Clipper Elite Carriers A/S (CEC) was renamed as Clipper Projects A/S during 2008 to focus entirely on the project cargo and heavy lift markets.

PANAMAX, SUPRAMAX and HANDYMAX BULKERS

The big Clipper bulk fleet during Millennium year consisted of two dozen owned bulkers of up to 30,000 dwt plus another fifty on charter. Panamax bulkers also featured in the fleet with the charter of Clipper Emperor ex Pacemperor, and subsequently Clipper Gem, Clipper Gemini, Clipper Gallant, Clipper Glory, Clipper Jade ex China Spirit, Clipper Monarch, Clipper Suffolk and Clipper Surrey ex Konkar Aliki from Rickmers and other owners. Clipper Bulk (U.K.) Ltd. had been established in 2001, and the smaller size of bulker known as ‘Handymax’ or ‘Supramax’ of between 45,000 and 60,000 dwt was then favoured by the Clipper Group e.g. Clipper Phoenix, Clipper Polaris, and Clipper Endeavour.

A large number of ‘Handysize’ bulkers of between 25,000 dwt and 40,000 dwt were also in the fleet during the next few years e.g. Clipper Belle, Clipper Bettina, Clipper Harmony, Clipper Hope, Clipper Kamoshio, Clipper Kasashio, Clipper Kikushio, Clipper Lagoon, Clipper Lis, Clipper Lotus, Clipper Morning, Clipper Mercury, Clipper Target, Clipper Talent, Clipper Tarpon, Clipper Tenacious, Clipper Terminus, Clipper Texan, Clipper Trader, Clipper Tradition, Clipper Triumph, Clipper Titan, Clipper Transport, Clipper Trust, Clipper Treasure and Clipper Valour. All of these bulkers are geared and fitted with four cranes of 30 tonnes capacity and most are fitted with their own grabs. The six vessels of the Clipper Bari-Star class of 38,000 dwt were delivered from the Imabari yard in Japan in 2011/12. They have five holds and hatches, four cranes of 30 tonnes capacity, and a service speed of 14.7 knots from a 6-cylinder two stroke MAN-B&W diesel of 7,350 bhp. The four vessels of the Clipper I-Star class of 61,000 dwt from the same shipyard in 2013 are the latest Clipper Group bulkers.

In July 1999, Van Ommeren of Holland and the Clipper Group unveiled plans to combine their two dry bulk operations in a joint venture to be known as VOC (Van Ommeren Clipper). Van Ommeren was established in Rotterdam in 1839 as a shipping and freight forwarding agent, and Philipps Van Ommeren became a shipowner in 1892. Van Ommeren contributed ten bulkers of up to 42,000 dwt to VOC, and Clipper took full control of VOC at the end of 2003 by acquiring the one third owned by Van Ommeren (by then called Royal Vopak) and the one third owned by Fortis Bank. VOC Steel Services was established in July 2000 to operate from Stamford (Connecticut) with a large staff recruited locally, and in recognition of this success story, Torben G. Jensen as Clipper CEO and Chairman, was named as Commodore of the Connecticut Maritime Association for 2006 on 22nd March 2006. This is a prestigious award and previous holders of the title have included the well known shipowners Jacob Stolt-Nielsen, Ole Skaarup, George Livanos, Marc Saverys, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Peter Georgiopoulos, Thomas Moran, Helmut Sohmen and many others.

The first Clipper steel cargo had been transported across the North Atlantic in November 1992 when Clipper Pacific of 7,950 dwt loaded 2,800 tonnes of steel beams at Brake in Germany for Houston. Since then more than eight hundred voyages with steel cargoes have been made across the North Atlantic. Recent examples of steel cargoes are the large number of steel beams transported in 2012 from Antwerp to Camden (New York) for the New York Freedom Tower on the site of the World Trade Centre in lower Manhattan as a memorial to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Clipper transported 80% of 15,000 tonnes of steel beams of length between 30 feet and 56 feet.

The 14,759 Ro-ro Clipper Pennant was built in 2009 by Sevilla Astilleros at Seville, launched as Clipper Panorama. She was completed as Clipper Pennant by Ast. De Huelva. © FotoFlite

A series of bulk carriers of up to 52,500 dwt were on charter to VOC in 2004 as VOC Daisy, VOC Endeavour, VOC Galaxy, VOC Gallant, VOC Gemini, VOC Iris, VOC Orchid, VOC Pioneer (ex Pendrecht), VOC Progress (ex Papendrecht) and VOC Rose, some chartered from Harren & Partners Schiffahrts of Germany, Lomar Shipping of Greece and other Greek shipowners. Some two million tonnes of steel products are carried annually with multiple sailings from European, Mediterranean and Brazilian ports to the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, U.S. Gulf and the North Coast of South America. Finished steel products are loaded at Antwerp, Hartlepool, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Civitavecchia, and other Italian ports for New London (Connecticut), Camden (New York), Savannah, Mobile, New Orleans, Houston, Brownsville, Altamira and Vera Cruz. Brazilian loading ports are Santos, Rio de Janeiro and Praia Mole for the Bossclip steel and liner service to the Caribbean and U.S. Gulf with discharge ports at Puerto Cabello (Venezuela), Barranquilla and Cartagena (Colombia), New Orleans and Houston. The multi purpose vessel Bossclip Trader was completed in 2006 for this service.

The log carrying bulkers of Lasco Shipping Co. Inc. and Lasco Loggers Co. Inc. of Portland (Oregon), formed in 1963, were acquired in October 2003. Lasco Shipping was renamed as Clipper Bulk (Portland) Inc. of the U.S.A. and fifteen bulkers were immediately transferred to it including five Panamaxes in Clipper Gem, Clipper Glory, Clipper Jade, Clipper Jasmine and Clipper Joy, as well as the Handymaxes Clipper Lake, Clipper Lancaster, Clipper Lis, Clipper Labrador, Clipper Lancelot, VOC Iris and VOC Orchid. A series of new loggers of 30,000 dwt was then ordered to be equipped with four cranes of thirty tonnes capacity. These were completed as Clipper Harmony, Clipper Ichiban, Clipper Iyo, Clipper Imabari, Clipper Ise, Clipper Iwagi, Clipper Izumo, Clipper Lasco, Clipper Lis and Clipper Lotus. There were a further ten chartered loggers in the Lasco Logger Pool in 2010, which was renamed as the Clipper Logger Pool in 2012. The logger Clipper Lasco of 28,730 dwt ran aground off Fort Lauderdale on 14th September 2006 as it came to anchor off the port at the end of its voyage from Sete in France. She was soon refloated and allowed into the port to discharge her cargo of logs.

The Caribbean sector of the bulk market is important to the Clipper Group, with over twenty million tonnes of fertilizer, coal, petroleum coke, steel, clinker, grain products shipped since the beginning in 1990 of a joint service with Monomeros Colombo Venezolanos S.A., a major petrochemical company in Colombia with a huge fertilizer production. The joint venture is known as Compass Rose Shipping Ltd., with regular trade shipments from Colombia to the U.S. Gulf, the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, neighbouring countries in South America and the Caribbean, as well as West Africa, Mediterranean and Europe. Clipper Interamerican Carriers A/S offers a regular liner service in the Caribbean from Mobile (Alabama) and other U.S. Gulf ports for lumber, logs, timber, plywood, paper, steel, poles and other break bulk cargo in owned and time chartered vessels. The Brazilian bulk trades are also important to Clipper Bulk A/S, and an office in Sao Paulo was opened in 2011 as Clipper Bulk Transportes Maritimas Ltda. Clipper Bulk (Singapore) Pte Ltd. was set up in 2007 with Clipper Lancaster and Clipper Lake managed by Roymar Ship Management (USA) in New York.

By 2011, the Clipper Group had a big fleet of one hundred Panamax, Supramax, Handymax and Handysize bulkers transporting 24.9 million tonnes of bulk cargo per year. Some forty per cent of this total comprised agricultural products such as grain, with fertilizer, coal, steel, petroleum coke, pig iron, logs, scrap metals, salt, iron ore, alumina and other bulk cargoes in descending order of size. Break bulk cargoes such as steel products and pipes, bagged cargo, unitized cargo and timber were also carried in large quantities. A dedicated team of seventy bulk chartering professionals operated from the Clipper offices in Copenhagen, Stamford (Connecticut), Houston (Texas), Colombia, Singapore, Brazil, Japan and China. Clipper bulkers have black hulls with ‘Clipper’ in large white letters, white funnels carrying a blue ‘C’ and cream superstructure, masts, cranes and deck working gear.

CRESCENT MARINE SERVICES LTD

In 1997, Clipper acquired a majority shareholding in Southampton based Crescent Marine Services Ltd., a company focussed on coastal dry cargo vessels and tankers, and Clipper gained complete control five years later in July 2002. Crescent had consisted of the two well known companies of Bowker & King Ltd., London founded in 1884 and with a fleet of twenty coastal tankers in 1988 usually employed on the Thames, Solent and Bristol Channel, and the former London & Rochester Trading Co. Ltd. founded in 1907 and with a fleet of fifteen dry cargo coasters in 1988. The Bowker & King Ltd. tanker fleet had a nomenclature beginning with ‘B’ e.g. Bardsey, and the London & Rochester nomenclature ended with ‘ence’ e.g. Sentence. Clipper took over two coastal tankers in 2002 in the new Crescent Camilla of 1,770 dwt and the bitumen tanker Crescent Highway of 3,215 dwt, the former Esso Avon and on charter to Exxon-Mobil. They were soon joined by Crescent Connemara of 2,800 dwt, Crescent Cuilin of 3,300 dwt and Crescent Highlander of 1,800 dwt. A managed vessel was the cement aggregates coaster Ronez of 1,117 dwt owned by Ronez Ltd. in the Channel Islands and she carried bulk cement in two holds from there to the Thames.

Three new twin screw chemical tankers of 3,500 dwt were then ordered from Eastern European yards and were launched in 2005/06 as Crescent Barolo, Crescent Beaune and Crescent Bordeaux. The Southampton office of Crescent Marine Services Ltd. was closed down on 20th December 2006, and the new trio of chemical tankers were quickly renamed as Clipper Barolo, Clipper Beaune and Clipper Bordeaux under Clipper Tankers A/S of Copenhagen. They were joined by six further chemical tanker sisters in 2007/08 as Clipper Barbera, Clipper Bardolino, Clipper Bourgogne, Clipper Bricco, Clipper Brunello and Clipper Burgundy. This preserved the former Bowker & King Ltd. system of nomenclature of their tankers with the prefix ‘B’.

The 18,110 LPG tanker Clipper Helen is chartered from Solvang A/S. She was built in 2007 by Jos. L. Meyer at Papenburg and is seen here at Rostock. © FotoFlite

CLIPPER TANKERS A/S

Gas tankers had been chartered from Solvang A/S of Stavanger in Norway from 1987 as Clipper Gas of 11,835 dwt and Clipper Lady of 3,000 dwt, and this pair were frequent callers in the Tees to load their cargoes. Further gas tankers were chartered from Solvang A/S in Clipper Hebe, Clipper Helen, Clipper Sea, Clipper Skagen, Clipper Victoria, Clipper Viking, Clipper Lady (2) of 40,600 dwt (built as Reynosa in 1979 at La Seyne and scrapped in 2009), Clipper Harald, Clipper Moon, Clipper Posh (broken up in 2011), Clipper Star, Clipper Sky and Clipper Sun (time chartered to Pertamina of Indonesia for LPG storage). In 2005, all of the shares in Copenhagen Tankers A/S, Panamerican Tankers Inc. and the large coastal tanker fleet of Wonsild & Sons A/S of Copenhagen were purchased. The Clipper Wonsild Tankers A/S fleet was renamed by preserving the female prefix name of the Wonsild fleet and using it as a suffix after ‘Clipper’ e.g. Helle Wonsild became Clipper Helle. All of these tanker assets were combined as Clipper Tankers A/S in 2008 with a fleet of over forty tankers. Four VLCCs of 297,000 dwt are also part of the current tanker fleet as Harbour Splendour, Island Splendour, Sea Splendour and Spring Splendour.

On 26th November 2009, it was announced in Copenhagen that Nordic Tankers A/S, founded in 2004, and the chemical tanker assets of the Clipper Group were to be merged, with Clipper becoming a minority 30% shareholder in Nordic Tankers A/S. The latter company owned fifteen tankers in six product tankers of between 35,000 dwt and 73,000 dwt and nine chemical tankers of between 5,000 and 13,000 dwt. They were traded in the Torm Tankers LR1 pool and Maersk Line’s Handytanker pool but commercial, technical and administrative functions were outsourced. This merger represented a major shift in its strategy to become a global operator of a large fleet of seventy chemical and product tankers including the 55 Clipper chemical and product tankers. Nordic Tankers A/S took over all of the Clipper management shore staff of 120 experienced tanker operators, which took over the management of all seventy tankers. The Clipper owned chemical tankers Clipper Nadja, Clipper Nelly, Clipper Nora, Clipper Inge and Clipper Marianne now became majority owned by Nordic Tankers A/S. Several further Clipper ‘S’ class tankers of 9,600 dwt joined the fleet in 2011, and in May 2012, Triton Shipping then acquired the chemical tanker activities of Nordic Tankers A/S, which was renamed as Nordic Shipholding A/S, but still with Clipper as the largest shareholder.

CLIPPER PROJECTS A/S

The project and heavy lift cargo sectors have been handled by Clipper Projects A/S from 2008, renamed from Clipper Elite Carriers A/S (CEC). A fleet of forty multipurpose ‘tweendeckers was available by 2012 equipped with heavy lift cranes of up to 200 tonnes capacity. All types of project cargo are carried from wind turbines, flexible pipe reels for the subsea oil industry, wire rope reels, oil and gas industry modules and sections to yachts, barges, fishing vessels and other unwieldy out of gauge items carried as deck cargoes. A joint venture existed for five years between Clipper and BBC Chartering Gmbh of Germany as Asia Project Chartering Pte Ltd. for Far Eastern project and heavy lift cargo between 2004 and 2009. A regular project cargo service was run from Far Eastern ports to South American ports during the joint venture.

During November, 2012, 56 wind turbines in sections were transported as deck cargo from Europe and Asia to Bell Bay in Tasmania by three Clipper Projects vessels. Clipper Makiri and Clipper Magdalena of 17,000 dwt and Clipper Alba of 12,000 dwt carried the wind turbines for eventual erection on the Musselroe Wind Park in Northern Tasmania. The client was Vesta Wind Systems and the transport of these very tall structures needed careful planning beforehand and special handling on and off the vessels. Clipper Galaxy of 9,100 dwt loaded four thousand cubic metres of offshore gas project cargo in February, 2013 over four days at Bintan Island in Indonesia. She was on charter to Subsea7 with the heaviest lift being 75 tonnes, however it was the complexity of the many interlocking gas rig sections that took two months of careful planning beforehand. The entire cargo was delivered safely on discharge in Angola at Lobito and Luanda.

The main classes of Clipper vessels with project and heavy lift capability are the eleven vessels of the ‘M’ and ‘N’ classes of 17,500 dwt e.g. Clipper Marinus and Clipper Nassau with up to 150 tonne capacity cranes, two vessels of the ‘Helvetia’ type of 18,000 dwt with cranes of 80 tonne capacity, three vessels of the ‘Desgagnes’ type with cranes of 180 tonne capacity, eight vessels of the new ‘A’ class built in 2011/12 e.g. Clipper Anita of 12,000 dwt with cranes of up to 150 tonnes capacity, three vessels of the ‘G’ class of 9,100 dwt e.g. Clipper Gemini with cranes of 200 tonnes capacity, six vessels of the ‘C’ class of 8,800 dwt e.g. Clipper Century with cranes of 150 tonnes capacity, and two vessels of the ‘F’ class of 7,300 dwt e.g. Clipper Force with cranes of 70 tonnes capacity. All of these vessels were built in the Far East where there are plenty of project and heavy lift cargoes for their maiden voyages e.g. Clipper Nassau loaded project cargo at Shanghai for Kakinada (India), and Clipper Galaxy loaded project cargo in Korea for East Timor. Clipper Projects A/S is currently part of a multi-purpose vessel pool with Enzian Ship Management of Zurich and Freese Shipping of Germany.

CLIPPER RO-RO SHIPPING

Clipper began in the ro-ro shipping sector in 1997 by chartering Clipper Caraibes, ex L’Aude and built at La Rochelle in France in 1978 with a lane length 450 metres, from Compagnie d’Orbigny for use on a regular ro-ro service from Pointe a Pitre (Guadeloupe) to Fort de France (Martinique) with occasional calls at other Caribbean islands such as St. Kitts. The chartered Clipper Cayenne also served between the two French Caribbean islands, with Clipper Caraibes also used on a Marsa el Brega (Libya) to Sete (France) service. Clipper Caraibes was renamed as Clipper Asya in 2002 for Far East trading, and had been joined by other ro-ro vessels such as Clipper Carthage on Mediterranean services. The Clipper Group also chartered two ro-ros, Katya Zelenko and Victor Talalikhin, from Donbass of the Ukraine for a ro-ro service between Santos (Brazil) and Luanda (Angola). This pair of ro-ros were bow loaders and had been completed in 1980/81 as two of a class of 22 Russian ro-ros by the Zhdanov Shipyard at Leningrad.

Seatruck Ferries with headquarters at Heysham began an Irish Sea service in 1996 with just one ro-ro vessel from Heysham to Ireland. The Clipper Group purchased Seatruck Ferries in 2002, and currently has a dozen fast freight ro-ros, most of which are operating on the Irish Sea on the Liverpool to Dublin route, and Heysham to Warrenpoint and Dublin routes. These are the ‘FSG’ series quartet built at Flensburg in Germany in 2011/12 as Seatruck Progress, Seatruck Power, Seatruck Performance and Seatruck Precision of 18,920 grt, 5,300 dwt with a lane length of 2,166 metres. Seatruck Power and Seatruck Progress operate an overnight service on the Liverpool to Dublin route, with Seatruck Performance and Seatruck Precision currently on charter to Stena Line as Stena Performer and Stena Precision.

An earlier quartet of ro-ros was completed in 2009 at Huelva in Spain of 14,759 grt, 5,300 dwt with a lane length of 1,830 metres as Clipper Pace renamed as Seatruck Pace, Clipper Panorama renamed as Seatruck Panorama, Clipper Point and Clipper Pennant. Seatruck Panorama is the only one of the quartet currently operating for Seatruck, with Clipper Point and Clipper Pennant chartered out to DFDS and Stena Line, and Seatruck Pace chartered out to Bluewater Shipping A/S for the transport of offshore wind turbines from Esbjerg to Mostyn on the Dee estuary. She transports three complete turbines per voyage for the Gwynt y Mor windfarm off the North coast of Wales.

Seatruck Power and Seatruck Progress on the Liverpool to Dublin route have black hulls with ‘SEATRUCK’ in white, and white funnels on the port side carrying the Clipper logo, which was clearly visible from the beach at Seaforth and Crosby during my recent visit to Liverpool. The Seatruck Ferries ro-ro fleet is completed by four ro-ros dating from 1998 of 7,606 grt, 4,935 dwt with a lane length of 1,057 metres in Clipper Ranger and currently laid up, Arrow on the Heysham to Dublin route, and two others on Scottish services. Anglia Seaways is also on charter to Seatruck Ferries from DFDS for the Heysham to Warrenpoint route alongside Seatruck Panorama.

CLIPPER PASSENGER VESSELS

The Clipper Group currently has nine cruise ships in its fleet ranging from luxury cruise ships to expedition vessels and river cruise vessels. The Group uses International Shipping Partners (ISP) of Miami for chartering out the vessels to cruise lines e.g. Quark Expedition, Oceanwide Expedition, Polar Quest, and do not operate cruises themselves. The first expedition ship in the fleet was Clipper Adventurer, purchased in 1997 as Alla Tarasova from the Russian fleet. She has been used for Antarctic and Galapagos Islands cruising, and was trapped in an icefield in the Bellingshausen Sea in Antarctica in 2000, and was aground off Nunavet in the Northwest Passage of the Canadian Arctic ten years later in September 2010. She is of 4,376 grt and has accommodation for 206 passengers and was built in 1975 by the Brodogradiliste yard at Kraljevica, and was sold and renamed Sea Adventurer in 2012. She was followed in the Clipper Group fleet in 1998 by Clipper Odyssey of 5,218 gt with accommodation for 128 passengers, and had been built in 1989 as Oceanic Grace in Japan for Showa Line.

These cruise ships were operated in the American cruise market, and the American intracoastal waterway along the Eastern Seaboard also provided excellent cruising for a number of small cruise ships operated by Clipper including Yorktown Clipper of 2,354 gt and built in 1988 with accommodation for 150 passengers, and Nantucket Clipper with accommodation for one hundred passengers. Yorktown Clipper and Nantucket Clipper also cruised in the American Virgin Islands until sold in January 2006 for $16.5 million to Cruise West. Further cruise ships were purchased in 2004/05 by the Clipper Group in Island Sky ex Renaissance Eight and Corinthian II ex Renaissance Seven, both of 4,200 gt with accommodation for 114 passengers and chartered out to Noble Caledonia and Travel Dynamics.

In November 2007, the Clipper Group acquired the much larger cruise ship Song of Norway, completed in November 1970 for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL). As built, she was of 18,400 gt but was lengthened by the insertion of a new midsection at the Wartsila yard of her builder at Helsinki in 1978, increasing her passenger accommodation to 1,196 and her gross tonnage to 22,945. She was renamed Clipper Pacific and was managed by International Shipping Partners (ISP) of Miami and chartered to the Peace Boat Organisation. However, her world tour was cut short at Piraeus after numerous problems and she was renamed Festival and then Ocean Pearl in 2009. A joint venture with Vision Cruises of Spain in 2009 saw SuperStar Gemini of 19,093 gt and built in 1992 with accommodation for 940 passengers purchased and operated as Vision Star in the Spanish cruise market. She was renamed as Gemini in 2009 and together with Ocean Pearl was chartered to Happy Cruises until they ceased operations in September 2011 with both ships laid up at Tilbury and then sold in 2012. Ocean Pearl became the casino ship Formosa Queen for Asia Star Cruise Management.

In December 2007, the intra-Danish ferry operations of Scandlines was purchased and included a 30% stake in Mols Line with Denmark to Sweden ferry services. In January 2011, the Clipper Group established the Baltic ferry company Danske Faerger A/S as a result of the merger between the Baltic ferry companies Bornholmstrafikken A/S, Sydfynske A/S, and Nordic Ferry Services A/S. An application had been submitted two months earlier to the Danish Ministry of Transport by the Clipper Group for approval of the merger, which was finalised in the last week of 2010. Danske Faerger A/S is 50% owned by the Clipper Group.

POSTSCRIPT

The Clipper Group is a family run business and celebrated its 40th Anniversary on 1st October 2012. Frank G. Jensen, son of the founder Torben G. Jensen, joined the business in 1992 and is currently Chairman of the Clipper Group Board. An important milestone had come in 1996 with the delivery of the ‘Fantasy’ class of bulkers, the first of many bulkers then built in China. The impressive size of the Clipper Bulkers A/S and Clipper Projects A/S fleets is a great credit to the Jensen family, as is their diversification into the steel, logging, tanker, cruise, ferry and ro-ro shipping sectors. On 1st July 2013, Clipper Projects A/S created with Thorco Shipping A/S the second largest multi-purpose vessel fleet in the world. A fleet of ninety modern vessels was created with headquarters in Copenhagen for the project and heavy lift cargo market using cranes with a lifting capacity of 400 tonnes and vessel sizes of between 5,000 dwt and 20,000 dwt.

Gary Vogel and Kristian Morch were made partners and joint Group CEOs in 2013, sharing the management activities. Gary Vogel is responsible for all activities in Clipper Bulk A/S, while Kristian Morch is responsible for all other shipping investments other than Clipper Bulk A/S, which includes all of the shipping interests mentioned above plus Clipper Fleet Management A/S and the sale and purchase of vessels. Gary Vogel had vast experience at Van Ommeren Shipping before joining the Clipper Group in 2000. Kristian Morch has more than twenty years experience with A.P. Moller Maersk, most recently as Chief Operating Officer of Maersk Tankers A/S.

In the summer of 2005, the Copenhagen based shore staff of the Clipper Group moved into brand new offices at Harbour House in the Sundkrogsgade in the Osterbro area of the city. Some three hundred shore based Clipper staff work in fifteen Clipper offices around the world including Copenhagen, Nassau, London, Stamford, Houston, Barranquilla, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo. Forty years of progress and expansion has created a worldwide shipping fleet to be proud of, and the future for the further expansion of the Danish Clipper Group now looks very bright with good go-ahead management in place. The white Clipper Group houseflag with a stylised blue oval ‘C’ will be seen on the oceans of the world for a long time to come.

I wish to express my grateful thanks to the Clipper Group for some of the information contained in this article.