Here is a class of ships that revolutionized the transport of chemicals and refines oil products.
These were the first ships in the World that was designed from the beginning to be the ultimate chemical carriers, and as such they became the "mother" of all chemical carriers that came after.
Although they started to come out of Belgium's Boelwerft way back in 1970, these ships were still modern when they were finally scrapped.

What made this class of ships revolutionize the handling of aggressive chemicals and highly refined oil products was the introduction of several new details, in layout and ship construction, - details that was not previously seen in other ships.

Some of the features that made the four "Stolt Norness" class ships unique, - and differ from previous ships -,  was the introduction of stainless steel tanks.
The tank section was surrounded by a double bottom and double skin construction, where frames, webs, stringers and stiffeners that would normally be inside the tank compartments would now be placed outside.
This arrangement make tank bottoms and bulkheads very smooth and makes cleaning and inspection much easier.
To further segregate the tanks, transverse cofferdams were dividing the tank compartment into 5 separate sections.

For pumping cargo, each tank was fitted with a new type of hydraulically driven deep well pump, that would leave only a few liters cargo left in the tank after discharging.
Instead of fixed deck cranes, - a traveling crane was introduced, and since it traveled on rails along the entire length of the tank deck, it could reach almost any place onboard.

In 1970 these ships were "state of the art" and way ahead of their time, - and remained modern throughout their active service life, since they could handle almost any cargo just as well as the latest chemical carriers of our time.

The "Norse" class was immediately followed in 1971/1972 by a 3 bigger ships, - the "Bole" Class -, which was quite similar in layout, but with one more cargo section, and the main engine had one more cylinder compared with the original "Norse" class.
 
 

Page initiated: Jan.15.2009
Page updated:  Dec.19.2009, - Sep.01.2011