''Bellamya'' was a

supertanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cr ...

, built in 1976 by

Chantiers de l'Atlantique Chantiers de l'Atlantique is a shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, Saint-Nazaire, France. It is one of the world's largest shipyards, constructing a wide range of commercial, naval, and passenger ships. It is located near Nantes, at the mouth of the Loire, ...

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Oc ...

for the French branch of

Shell Oil Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Y ...

. She was the second . ''Bellamya'', together with her sister ships , and , was one of the biggest ships in the world, surpassed in size only by (later ''Jahre Viking'', ''Happy Giant'' and ''Knock Nevis'') built in 1976, and extended in 1981, although the four ships of the ''Batillus'' class had a larger

gross tonnage Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weig ...

. By gross tonnage—a measure of volume—''Bellamya'' was the largest ship ever built.

History

The contract to build the ''Batillus''-class supertankers was signed on 6 April 1971, and the first sheet metal was cut in January 1975. Meanwhile, the oil shock caused by the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...

in October 1973 resulted in higher

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

prices and reduced imports by industrialized countries. The cancellation of the orders was seriously considered, but

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

concluded that it was better to continue, mostly to not put the

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

in a very difficult position by withdrawing such a huge, already initiated project (the work commitments were already well advanced, with extremely heavy cancellation charges). It was also hoped for an improvement in market conditions. The ship was completed and put in service in 1976, months after the completion of her sister ship ''Batillus'', and that of the new, purposely built, oil terminal

Antifer ''Antifer'' is an extinct genus of large herbivorous deer belonging to the tribe Odocoileini native to South America during the Pleistocene, becoming extinct around 12,000 years ago. It was one of the largest South American deer genera, with an ...

, near

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

, one of very few ports in the world capable of accommodating ''Batillus''-class tankers. The international oil market however, did not improve; her size also placed restrictions on where she could be employed, and this must have led to her early demise. Active service ended when ''Bellamya'' was laid up at

Vestnes Vestnes may refer to: Places *Vestnes (village), a village within Vestnes Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway *Vestnes Municipality, a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway *Vestnes Church, a church in Vestnes Municipality in ...

, Norway, on 26 January 1984, and she arrived at

Ulsan Ulsan (; ), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighbo ...

, South Korea, on 6 January 1986 to be

scrapped Scrap consists of recyclable Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on i ...

Technical data

''Bellamya''s

length overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also ...

was , her

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

was , and

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

. The ship was measured at , and . Propulsion was provided by two propellers each driven by two

Stal-Laval ABB Group is a Swedish-Swiss multinational electrical engineering corporation. Incorporated in Switzerland as ABB Ltd., and headquartered in Zurich, it is dual-listed on the Nasdaq Nordic exchange in Stockholm, Sweden, and the SIX Swiss Excha ...

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

s developing a total capacity of . The service speed was , with fuel consumption of about of heavy oil per day and fuel enough for 42 days. The cargo was carried in 40

tanks A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; t ...

with a total volume of . They were divided into central and lateral tanks, whose dimensions was designed to reduce considerably the risk of pollution caused by collision or grounding. Ahead of the international standards of the time, the wing tanks had a maximum unit volume not exceeding , which was reduced to in the most vulnerable parts of ship.

References

External links

Gallery and technical information at aukevisser.nl

Article "Le Marin" du 5 juillet 1996

Bellamya at helderline.nl

Gallery and various information {{DEFAULTSORT:Bellamya Ships built in France 1976 ships Tankers of France Oil tankers Shell plc