On Saturday, 26 February 2000, at Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea, Mrs Nil Okan Paniguian, wife of Mr Richard Paniguian, Regional President for the Middle East of BP Amoco, named the Hyundai newbuilding No 1166. The Danish flag tanker built for A.P. Møller was named "ELSE MÆRSK" with homeport in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. It is the fourth in a series of Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) to be built at Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., South Korea.


This is the third time a vessel in the A.P. Møller fleet is given the family name ELSE.


The vessel having a double hull is designed in accordance with the latest international rules of IMO (International Maritime Organisation) for the prevention of oil pollution and with the American Oil Pollution Act (OPA 90).


Overall length of the ELSE MÆRSK is 332.93 meters with a breadth of 58.0 meters and a depth moulded of 31.0 meters. The scantling dead-weight of the vessel is 308,491 DWT and she can carry more than 2.0 million barrels of crude oil and has a ballast capacity of over 100,000 cubic meters. Three steam driven cargo pumps each with a capacity of 5,500 cubic meters per hour can discharge the ship in less than 24 hours. The tanker has been approved for operation with a total crew of only 13 due to the high level of automation, the advanced fire-fighting system, the handy layout of mooring systems and the novel and highly efficient design of the bridge.


After the name giving ceremony, ELSE MÆRSK, under the command of Captain Ole Bang Poulsen Nielsen and with Hans Nikolaj Schmidt as Chief Engineer, promptly departed for the Arabian Gulf on her maiden voyage.


The vessel will now join her three sisters already delivered in their commitment to provide oil companies world-wide with safe and environmentally-friendly transportation of crude oil from the production source to the refinery.


Contact person:
Tage Bundgaard, Executive Vice President (Tel. +45 3363 3635)