Hi Azuero, you may find the following link useful and the extract about the MV Carchester. Regards Paul

http://www.ibdlearningzone.org.uk/article/show/pdf/905/

In 1967 it built a bulk carrier named The Carchester which plied its trade from Toledo, Baltimore or Albany to Manchester with two sister ships.Carrying 18,000 tonnes of grain she was the largest ship ever to use the canal and only just fitted in the locks. As canal traffic slowed in the1970s and the bottom was dredged less frequently, the payload dropped to 14,000 tonnes which proved uneconomic.

I had a keen interest in ships on the Manchester Ship Canal from the mid-1950's,and remember the Carchester very well.I believe she was a modified Freedom Type - modified for the draft,beam and length restrictions of the MSC,and was designed to carry cargoes of grain from Hampton Roads to Manchester.If memory serves,on her delivery voyage from Japan she loaded a cargo of 13,710 tons
of maize in South Africa which at the time was the
biggest single cargo to come to Manchester.

Adenanthos, that's what I suggested in my first comment...

Unfortunately not Pieter, I was not in the technical dept., looks more like tanker/OBO derricks.
Cargill was deeply involved in OBO vessels in those days.

Adenanthos, can you then tell us about the function of those derricks?

I worked at Cargill Amsterdam who managed the ship at the time! (early 1970's) , she was laid up here at the end of her career.
Indeed specifically designed for the Manchester Canal Trade from a "Freedom" type vessel.
The name of the ship is a combination of "Cargill" and "Manchester" of course.
She didn't trade long after her sale.

Ships designed to operate on the Manchester Ship Canal usually had cropped masts - to get under the bridges

Was there any restriction in air draught on her trade? The mast looks rather uncommon for a Japanese built ship.Also the radio comm masts which were typical sights on ships built in Japan look shortened by purpose all in one length with the stack.

M.V. Carchester , Liberia / later UK, ISHIKAWAJIMA HARIMA KURE,JAPAN, Hull 1990, delivered 07/67
Sold as SHOBHA Panama 21-Jun-82
DWT 14,625; IMO 680 3595 155.93 x 148.75 x 19.36 x 8.10 m G 19,594 4 Holds
PIELSTICK 10 PC2-V 400, 4,200 BHP x 450 RPM

Here you can find some more pics of her http://www.shipsunderway.co.uk/carchester.htm
and
https://www.shipsnostalgia.com

On the pic's you can see that at some stage she had only 2 derricks and sometimes 4
Also strange arrangement of hatch covers

Craig,the Freedom is about 14 meters shorter but 40 centimeters wider. Depth is 11.94 and that of the freedom 12.35. So your optical judgement was quite correct.

David's post is quite interesting, but there is still no explanation regarding the function of the derricks.

To me she looks like a freedom ship from IHI, but possible longer because she has more hatches and obviously without the cargo gear of the freedom type.

Two derrick posts, two booms
but in this photo they are both on the port-side post
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1829369

Phil, given the dimensions that sound rather plausible, but it still does not explain the derricks

Pieter, Phil is correct, she was one of the largest vessels to Salford Docks and it is said her hull dregded the Ship Canal at the same time?

As far as I know she was designed specifically for importing grain from the US to the Manchester Ship Canal for Cargill.

Was she ever designed as a mini obo? What could be function of the derricks other than to handle hoses?