Bulk Carrier - Berge Stahl

The MS Berge Stahl is the largest bulk carrier ship in the world. She is registered in Stavanger, Norway. She was previously registered in Monrovia, Liberia.

General Characteristics

Length:	343m (1,122 ft)
Beam:	65m (208,3ft)
Draft:	23m
Capacity:	364,767

An iron ore carrier, the Berge Stahl has a capacity of 364,767 metric tons of deadweight (DWT) she was built in 1986 by Hyundai Heavy Industries. The Berge Stahl is 1,122 feet (343 m) long, has a beam, or width, of 208.3 feet (65 m), and a draft, or depth in the water, of 23 m.

Her Hyundai B&W 7L90MCE diesel engine is 30feet (9 m) high, drives a single 30foot (9 m) screw, and puts out 27,610 horsepower (20.59 MW), has a top speed of 13.5 knots, and has a 30foot (9 m) high rudder.

She is owned by the Norwegian shipping company Bergesen d.y. ASA.

Because of her massive size, the Berge Stahl can only tie up, fully loaded, at two ports in the world, hauling ore from the Terminal Marítimo de Ponta da Madeira in Brazil to the Europoort near Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Even at these ports, passage must be timed to coincide with high tides to prevent the ship running aground. The Berge Stahl makes this trip about ten times each year, or a round-trip about every five weeks. In September of 2006, the ship carried ore to the port of Majishan, China, where she was dry-docked and given her twenty-year inspection. On the return voyage to Rotterdam, she picked up a partial load of ore in Dampier, Western Australia, and Saldanha Bay in South Africa (where the maximum depth permitted is 21 m).