The South Korean shipyard Daesun Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Ltd has just handed over to Société de Cabotage Pétrolier (Petrocab) the tanker ordered on February 9, 2021 at a cost of 20 million dollars.
The laying of the keel takes place on March 4, 2021: this is the official recognition of the start of the construction of the ship. Under the Moroccan flag and registered in Casablanca, she was delivered on September 27, 2022 to Petrocab, client for an amount of 20 million dollars. Intended for coastal shipping, this tanker, 117 meters long and 19 meters wide, has a loading capacity of 9,000 dwt (deadweight tons). The naming ceremony took place at the port of Busan (Pusan) in South Korea. As a reminder, the name of the ship, “Challah”, refers to the famous necropolis, the flagship monument of the capital of the Kingdom.
Control room (wheelhouse) of the new Moroccan tanker “Challah”.
Currently, in the Sea of Japan, she is undergoing seakeeping checks and adjustment/calibration for optimum fuel use for a speed of 16 knots (about 30 km/h). Thus, on the morning of Friday, October 7, 2022, Challah left Busan to set sail south; after sailing for 50 km, it performs ten 2 km gyrations in order to test the response of the rudder (speed below 20 km/h). These maneuvers end late on Saturday night. For the time being, she is at anchor for inspection of the hull and machinery, including the fuel circuits. It should set sail for Morocco next week, via the Suez Canal.
It must be said that by investing so much in this new gem, Petrocab wants to anticipate the next entry into service of the port of Nador West Med, which will focus on petroleum products. In addition to the 3 million containers that this platform will be able to accommodate when it opens, the port must be able to handle up to 25 million tonnes of hydrocarbons. Indeed, thanks to the large quantities of oil that it will be able to process, Nador West Med will be able to offer storage silos for national fuel distributors, but also and above all for international oil transporters. While almost all of Europe gets its supplies from Rotterdam, Morocco hopes to play a similar role in the Mediterranean basin as well as for West Africa.
In the meantime, petroleum products represent 50% of national cabotage, which amounts to 6 million tonnes, mainly containers and hydrocarbons. Originally, this traffic was generated from Mohammedia; since the bankruptcy of Samir, this port mainly deals with the import of LPG (liquefied gas). Currently, the supply is carried out mainly from Tangier Med to the other ports of the Kingdom, in particular those in the south.
