Oldendorff Carriers is proud to share a significant milestone in our diversity efforts. 
Following years of sustained investment in inclusion initiatives, nearly 125 female seafarers from 17 nationalities now serve onboard our vessels across 13 ranks. The number continues to grow and is expected to reach 150 by next year. 

Oldendorff Carriers is undergoing one of its busiest dry docking periods, with over 60 vessels scheduled across 2024–2025. This follows a major retrofit wave in 2019–2020. Most dockings take place in Asia, where long-standing partnerships also support our fleet renewal program, including 13 new Kamsarmaxes currently under construction.

A peer-reviewed study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Georgia Institute of Technology in cooperation with Oldendorff Carriers (Oldendorff) provides new insights into the environmental impact of exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers) and their role in broader decarbonization efforts. 

Oldendorff Carriers (Oldendorff) is pleased to announce the successful installation and operational deployment of Rotor Sails on the Chinook Oldendorff. Through a joint agreement first announced in December 2023, the Chinook Oldendorff transports Elk Valley Resources (EVR) steelmaking coal from the Port of Vancouver to customers across the Pacific Ocean.

Equipped with Norsepower Rotor Sails™, the Chinook Oldendorff harnesses wind energy to generate additional thrust, expecting to reduce fuel consumption on transpacific routes by about 10-15%.

Oldendorff Carriers and the University of Strathclyde (UoS) are setting up a research centre for sustainable shipping at the university in the centre of Glasgow. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed. The MoU will create a partnership where we will work together on sustainable shipping issues to support international and regional efforts to decarbonise the industry, support the just transition, and further enhance operational safety. There are aims to set up the Oldendorff Research Centre for Sustainable Shipping. Targeted areas of collaborative research will also include the design of highly efficient ships that incorporate innovative technologies, novel, smart, energy-efficient integrated operations and alternative energy sources.

The NPGCC brings together diverse sections of the value chain including bulk commodity producers, railway and intermodal transportation providers, marine vessel owners and operators, port facilities and port authorities, and clean technology providers. The nine founding members are Canadian National Railway Company (CN), Mitsubishi Canada Ltd., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers, Oldendorff Carriers, Prince Rupert Port Authority, Teck Resources Limited (Teck), Trigon Pacific Terminals, and Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. The NPGCC is open to additional members and partners, in particular end-use customers, to contribute to the development and implementation of the green trade corridor.

Teck and Oldendorff Carriers announce agreement to outfit bulk carrier with Flettner Rotor sails to reduce emissions.

Teck Resources Limited (“Teck”) and Oldendorff Carriers GmbH & Co. KG (“Oldendorff”) today announced an agreement to install a leading wind propulsion solution in their latest step to reduce emissions in Teck’s supply chain. The joint investment will have the Dietrich Oldendorff fitted with a Flettner Rotor system by mid-2024.

VALE performs first biofuel voyage for its iron ore shipping

The vessel Hinrich Oldendorff will be fuelled by a blend of cooking oil and fuel oil. Vale, working in partnership with Oldendorff Carriers, have just commenced their first biofuel voyage on a bulk vessel. The trial is taking place on an Oldendorff vessel performing a laden Vale voyage from Brazil to Asia, carrying a full cargo of iron ore.

In 2019, Oldendorff Carriers signed a research agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA). The purpose of the research agreement was to investigate disruptive improvements in ship design, propulsion, and alternative energy sources to help achieve the enhanced decarbonization targets to 2050. As part of their agreement, Oldendorff Carriers asked MIT to conduct a study on the long-term stability and degradation of a B20 advanced biofuel blend. Oldendorff would like to share the results of the study with the shipping community to help progress the path toward decarbonization.

Oldendorff Carriers has welcomed the release of a green corridor feasibility report on the West Australia – East Asia iron ore trade route, in partnership with other consortium partners including BHP, Rio Tinto, Starbulk and the Global Maritime Forum. The green corridor project focuses on the feasibility of ammonia as a low emission marine fuel option to reduce seaborne transport emissions on this major iron ore trade route.

Effective today, the board of OLDENDORFF CARRIERS has appointed Patrick Hutchins as the new President and CEO of the company. Patrick succeeds Peter Twiss, who has decided to step down after having served the company for nearly 28 years.

On 10^th February 2023, we celebrated the namegiving of our latest Japanese Capesize newbuilding, M/V “Gina Oldendorff”. She followed her sistership “Alice Oldendorff”, which was also delivered from Namura Shipbuilding in November. Both Capesize ships will be retrofitted with “Yara” Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems in China.

Oldendorff Carriers recently opened a Centre Of Excellence (COE), at its new office premises in the DIFC in Dubai. The COE includes a state-of-the art video wall, providing live information on the performance of our fleet of owned and time chartered vessels. The facility is designed to harness the power of real time data, generating information for faster decision making and helping achieve cost efficiencies and lower emissions.

IMO's new Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) regulations (MARPOL Annex VI, Regulation 28) will not help the environment and may in many cases actually lead to higher rather than lower emissions. We have developed and herewith share a detailed presentation on this complex topic. This overview is intended to be both informal and educational. It serves to help our staff and partners understand the likely yet unintended consequences of the regulations and the difficulties with related contractual clauses. Download Presentation

Last week we ordered Becker “Mewis” ducts and rudder bulbs for another 12 ships (7 Babycapes and 5 Post-panamaxes), which will be installed during first half 2023. In our existing fleet, we will therefore have WED’s installed on 45 bulk carriers. We have also started many other initiatives to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, which you can see in the other news stories. The purpose of the fuel saving devices is not only to reduce our fuel consumption but also to reduce our Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHG).

Oldendorff Carriers has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with BHP, Rio Tinto, Star Bulk Carriers and the Global Maritime Forum, to jointly assess what is required to facilitate a viable green corridor on the Australia to East Asia, iron ore trade route. The group was brought together through their shared ambition and engagement in the Getting to Zero Coalition. The consortium partners each represent parts of the value chain and bring key perspectives into investigating commercial elements needed to decarbonise this trade route.

A trial voyage using biofuel for the CBH Group, the largest agricultural co-operative in Western Australia, is being performed on the Edwine Oldendorff from Australia to Vietnam. The vessel loaded 30,000 tonnes of sustainably certified malting barley from the Albany Grain Terminal in Western Australia for discharge in Vietnam using biofuel, supplied by BP. The vessel was bunkered with an advanced biofuel blend, which is expected to result in 15% emissions avoided compared to conventional fossil fuels, according to the supplier.

Teck Resources Limited ("Teck") and Oldendorff Carriers (“Oldendorff”) today announced an agreement to employ energy efficient bulk carriers for shipments of Teck steelmaking coal from the Port of Vancouver to international destinations, reducing CO₂ emissions in the steelmaking coal supply chain. This industry-leading initiative is expected to achieve a CO₂ emissions reduction of 30 - 40% for shipments handled by Oldendorff. The estimated savings can be of up to 45,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year, equivalent to removing nearly 10,000 passenger vehicles from the road.

This summer, we signed another two batches of newbuilding contracts for a series of eco Kamsarmaxes with our friends at HANTONG Shipyard. The orders are for 5 firm vessels and 7 options. The firm and optional vessels will deliver between July 2022 and September 2023. Some of them have been resold to another owner. So far this year, OLDENDORFF CARRIERS has acquired 16 vessels and holds 7 options.

A deal has been finalised that will soon see the largest vessel to ever call at New Zealand for the loading of logs. Not only will this be the biggest vessel to load logs from New Zealand, loading a gearless ship is also a first for the New Zealand log export industry. Our objective is to make the supply chain as efficient as possible while maximising port throughput, as well as minimising the environmental footprint from the transportation of logs. The first vessel to load is scheduled to be the MV Clemens Oldendorff 92,759 mt deadweight, which is due to load from Tauranga at the end of October, or early November 2021.