LYSAKER, Norway: April 23, 2019. Wallenius Wilhelmsen (WW) has taken delivery of its second Post-Panamax vessel. With a capacity equivalent of 8,000 cars and electrically hoistable deck panels, MV Traviata is the second of a four-vessel High-Efficiency RoRo (HERO) order.

The vessel’s maiden voyage will include first ports of call in Japan, loading at Omaezaki and Higashiharima before beginning regular service between Asia and North America.

Sister vessel MV Titus has been operating for 10 months and proved that all design efforts have paid off, according to WW Ocean’s COO Michael Hynekamp. “The vessel class is setting a new benchmark in terms of energy efficiency, improving consumption [by] approximately 15 percent [and] resulting in considerably reduced emission levels compared to similar vessels in the global fleet.”

The third HERO vessel is scheduled for delivery later this year and the fourth in early 2020. Titus and Traviata are the first Large Car and Truck Carriers (LCTCs) built at CSIC Xingang and the first Chinese-built LCTCs in the WW Ocean fleet.

The HERO vessels have been designed to reduce energy consumption by dramatically improving the cargo-to-ballast ratio as an increased beam of 36.5metres provides better stability and less need for ballast water.

The hull has also been optimised to diminish drag and wave resistance, which improves fuel efficiency, while the engine has been tuned for low-load operation to reduce fuel consumption of various Sulphur 2020-compliant bunker fuels.