Baco Liner sells 28-year-old barge-multi-purpose containership for scrap

DUISBURG-based Baco Liner Seereederei has cut down on the number of sailings on its unique Europe-West Africa barge-container and breakbulk service after selling the youngest of its three multipurpose barge/container carrying vessels, the 28-year old Baco Liner 3 for scrap.

The replacement of such ships by units of a similar design would have been prohibitive in terms of current construction costs, according to Alphaliner.

Baco Liner started operating regular services between North Europe and West Africa in 1979, using barge/container vessels (abbreviated BA-CO) and these ships, which were designed by Baco's former parent company, Rhein Maas und See (RMS) and the German shipyard Thyssen Nordseewerke, attracted great attention for their revolutionary design. Three vessels of this type were built: Baco Liner, Baco Liner II and Baco Liner III, delivered between 1979 and 1984.

These unusual ships, of 21,800 dwt and length of 204 metres, have been designed to carry both containers and barges. Contrary to other barge carriers, where barges are loaded on board using a gantry crane or a lift, the Baco ships load their barges in a floodable dock-hold, which is opened to the sea by swinging open two large bow doors. When the ship is ready to load/unload, its dock is flooded and the barges are floated in and out in a fairly short period of time. Each vessel can carry twelve 800-ton barges measuring 24 metres each. In addition, each vessel has two further sets of 12 barges, which remain in the loading and discharging ports waiting for the mother vessel. In addition, up to 652 TEU of containers can be stowed on deck.

Until 1992, Baco Liner was a subsidiary of the German sea-river and international transport RMS group (RMS was set up in 1925 by the French inland waterway operator Societe Alsacienne de Navigation Rhenane -Sanara). In 1992, Sanara sold its stake in RMS Afrika, the operator of the Baco ships, to Seereederei Baco Liner.