What's in a Name

 Ship's names can be a subject for much speculation as the origins may be quite obscure. In other cases ships are named following a theme and are thus grouped by owner or charterer or by type of ship. Names are also subject to change, perhaps when sold to new owners or when changing charter to a different operator.

It was once thought to be unlucky to change a ship's name, but that is not the case nowadays as some ships have long strings of former names without having had any untoward incidents.

A ship arrived in Halifax from Davisville, RI in ballast on October 10 and tied up at Pier 28, without working any cargo. It now appears to be a candidate for a new name. The BBC Danube is a general cargo vessel with heavy lift capability, and operated in the BBC Chartering fleet.

Built in 2012 by Tianjin Xingang in China it is a 12,980 gt vessel with a 16,945 dwt capacity and is equipped with a two 250 tonne and one 80 tonne capacity cranes. The two larger cranes can be operated in tandem for a 500 tonne lift.

Shortly after arrival staging was assembled over the port bow. By today the name on the starboard bow had been painted over and work was underway on the port bow.

 

Also the "BBC Chartering" logo and banner on the superstructure has disappeared. 

BBC Chartering GmbH (owned by Briese Schiffahrts) has a huge fleet, of more than 160 ships, but owns only a few of them - most are owned independantly and may run for some period of time for BBC. Charter durations may be short term - a matter of months - or long - several years, and may or may not involve changing the ship's name. 

For example Transport Desgagnés assigns many of its ships to BBC for "off season" use, without change of name, then takes them back for the northern supply. In fact two of their fleet are of the same class as BBC Danube (nominal 17,000 dwt).

With a rainy day predicted for tomorrow, where painting will be unlikely, the mystery of the new name may be ongoing.

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