Yet Malim Sahib is right in his conclusions. Many 1970's OBO's later in their lives were re-classified as ore carriers, like e.g. the Sanko Lines's Seiko Maru and Bergesen's Berge Athene (at the same time their steam turbines being replaced by diesel engines).

The Maasvlakte Oil Terminal at Rotterdam Europort din't allow OBO's to discharge at its jetties, because the oil often was 'polluted' by remnants of ore or coal left over from earlier voyages. Yet this ship seems to have been very successful, be it only as an oil tanker. See the comments with the black&white photo of her as Arrow Gdynia by Pieter Melissen. Also, it seems I'm the only one who photographed her as 'Lynncraig' in April 2002 at Europort, as this site says'no photos found'...

Awful with regards to actually working on them.
Changing between cargoes was a work up of colossal proportions, often having to use equipment which hadn't seen use for a quite a while if the ship was on a long term charter to carry a singly type of cargo.
Also, with the number of void spaces/hatches/tanks it was very easy for gas to accumulate if you were carrying oil (hydrocarbon gas) or the likes of coal (methane). More than a few of these ships suffered serious fire and explosion.
Changing between cargoes changed the stresses on the hull considerably - carrying a load of iron ore compared with a full load of oil did quite different things to the forces.
That's before we even touch on some of the 70s built OBO abominiations, many of which are well documented.
You'll find very, very, few men who actually sailed on these ships professing any admiration for them.

In what way were they awful ships? I think that many shipspotters would relish the chance to see and photograph an OBO these days, they are becoming so rare.

Not many will lament another OBO biting the dust, by and large they were awful ships.

Arne, Yes, there have been many changes to well-known shipping companies in recent history. It is hard to keep track of them sometimes, but it's part of my job to do so :-)

Brgds
Phil

Phil, this was new to me. It is very difficult to follow companies nowadays, I have found that several of the OBO and Suezmax'es are run from V-Ships office in Oslo. The offices of Kristian Gerhard is less than 3 minutes drive from me, but they are very anonymus; not much in the local press. Much of the operations moved to London a few years ago, but I think still much is run from Bergen.
Kristian and Peter has split; well this just confirm that third generation makes a mess. We have had several histories of this kind in Norway.Just take a look at histories of Sig.Bergesen d.y, P.Meyer, Odfjell etc. Even a sound, wealthy company as Chr.Haaland in Haugesund (Concordia Line and Ny--tankers)quit shipowning, as the third generation could not agree who own what.
Well, that's the way life goes....

Arnes, the latest generation of Jebsen brothers - Kristian and Peter - have also now split their business. Peter now controls Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Skipsrederi (KGJS) and the fleet of OBOs and suezmaxes, whilst Kristian now heads up Gearbulk as a completely separate operation.

Brgds
Phil

Aha, now I get it..
I remember that Gerhard Jebsen had one named ARROW GDYNIA which was bought from Bergesen on stock. That was about the time I was working in his Gearbulk-fleet.
I have been working in both Jebsen-companies, they were brothers, but also strong enemies, after what happened when their father got killed in 1967. The company got splitted then, and thereafter they were not friends. Kristian Gerhard built up Gearbulk, and also built up to the largest OBO-operator in the world. He passed away a few years ago, but his company is today Norway's largest shipowning company, bigger than Bergesen and wilhelmsen.
His brother Atle, which took over his father's company, had an big increase in the 70's, but following several conflicts with his co-operators, his company has now almost disappeared. Atle was killed in an car-accident 2 years ago, now his vessels are being taken over by an Canadian company (CSL).
According to Norwegian newspapers there are only 5 persons left in the norwegian office

Jebsens probably got a bargain with it. At this time polish yards were having big problems with lead times, to to lack of hard currency and also labour shortages. This one was launched in 1983 but not delivered until 1986. Jebsens probably got it at its 1983 price.

Hi Arnes

Yep, the second of two B536 cbo type, built at Gdynia, originally ordered by Bergesen but refused for late delivery and vessels sold on to Jebsens

Allan

This type of Boom-posts (or whatever you call it) was very familiar on some Polish-built vessels. Haven't checked this vessel yet, but it surely must be Polish-built