Hi Derek
Nice to see a shot of an old vessel I photoed myself in the early nineties. If I may add she was owned by the ABC Containerline from 1979-96 when the company went into liquidation, with her principal, Belgian Mr Tsvi Rosenfeld, later being arrested at an Israeli airport. I did not hear what happened next though the ABC ships were heavily funded by the Belgian government and perhaps problems related to application of the funds. The company was always stretched financially, sometimes taking six months to pay bills so perhaps the end reuslt was not so surprising. 7 "conbulkers" like the Brussel, including her sister Anwterpen and Helen, DeLoris, Cornelis Verolme, Ellen Huding and TNT Express/Martha II operated an interesting service. They were 41,100 dwt vessels with 2 cellular holds but looke dlike bulkers, the loaded containers first in Europe for Australia and New Zealand. Then after calling Fremantle, Australia, would load sand at Geraldton for DuPont, shipped to the US Gulf to be made into paint. The sand was loaded in separate holds from the containers. Then they called at container ports in eastern Australia and New Zealand, then to Houston to unload containers and shift any on the hatches of the bulk sand holds. I think it was Gulfport where the sand was discharged, then they went to Philadelphia to discharge and laod more containers, before heading back to Europe. They were popular in New Zealand for breaking the conference lines monopolies.
Intriguing how she and her sister Antwerpen have got their original names bulk, though now only operating in bulk trades but have had discharging equipment fitted on deck.
Cheers
Brent |
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