On Friday August 28th, the newly build inland waterway crane ship ‘Transferium’ was christened in Sremski Karlovci by Mrs. Jelena Marjanovic, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Regional Development, in the presence of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, H.E. Mr. R. van Dartel. Earlier this week, the ship successfully executed her trials on the Danube, in the area of Novi-Sad. This highly innovative ship was designed, build and fully outfitted by Shipyard Begej. The ship will be used in the Dutch seaports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam to pickup and deliver containers at the customer’s doorstep.

After the christening ceremony, the ownership of the ship will be transferred from Shipyard Begej to the new and proud owners Mr. Rolf Teekman and Mr. Henk Teekman in cooperation with the Mercurius Shipping Group. The Port of Amsterdam is also an investor in this project.

The Transferium is a unique inland vessel which was completely designed, build and outfitted in Serbia by Shipyard Begej, which is owned by the Dutch company Mercurius Shipping Group. This high-tech ship is one of the first ships to be completely finished in Serbia and is a perfect example of the close cooperation between various Serbian and Dutch companies. By producing fully equipped ships, Shipyard Begej is reaching its goal of being transformed from a steel hull producer to a producer of ‘turn-key’ advanced ships, using up-to-date Western (project) management techniques and the latest tools and equipment available. With 235 employees and dozens of people from subcontractors, Shipyard Begej is a major employer in the Zrenjanin area.

The ‘Transferium’ is the improved version of the ship ‘Mercurius-Amsterdam’, build at the same shipyard Begej in 2005. This concept was first developed by Mercurius Shipping Group in close cooperation with the Port of Amsterdam in order to create a shift from road to water transport of containers, within the port region and to relieve the roads surrounding Amsterdam from these inner container movements. The ‘Transferium’ measures 95,50 x 11,55 m. can carry about 2.200 tons or 126 x 20 ft. containers. The container crane will be able to lift 40 tons on a horizontal arm length of 28 m. To compensate for the high lifting capacity of the crane, a highly innovative stability system is installed. The high tech ship will be able to load/unload an average of about 22 containers per hour.

Next week, the ship will leave Serbia and sail to Antwerp, Belgium, where the Container Crane will be installed in the middle part of the ship. A few days later the ship is expected to be fully operational and she will start her crane activities in the harbours of Rotterdam and Amsterdam as a ‘floating container transferium’.

Later this year a ‘turn-key’ 110 x 11,45 m. double hulled chemical tanker will be delivered to Belgian client, followed by two fully outfitted chemical tankers for the Mercurius Group in 2010. The Mercurius Group is considering to expand their investments and activities in Serbia towards logistical services, consulting and setting up franchise-systems.

Brodogradiliste Begej AD (Shipyard Begej) based in Zrenjanin, Serbia is part of the Netherlands based Mercurius Shipping Group since 2007. The shipyard is located on a side-canal of the Danube and currently employs about 235 workers. The shipyard is specialized in the newbuilding of customized inland waterway ships, and nowadays with complete outfitting. In 2009 Begej will deliver in total about 5 hulls and 2 completely outfitted ships (1 container crane-ship and 1 chemical tanker later this year) for the Western-European market. In order to achieve this, significant investments were made throughout the organization, especially on general management, project management, IT, equipment and the facility. Furthermore, the shipyard produces various general steel construction works e.g. tanks, construction for buildings, machinery, etc.

The Mercurius Shipping Group is based in Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands and is a privately owned company with a clear focus on investments in companies relating to inland waterway logistics. Currently Mercurius has investments in about 35 inland ships, double hulled chemical tankers, container ships and special purpose ships. The range of services Mercurius Group provides range from design and building of inland waterway ships, venture capital, management support to inland shipping companies (Finance / HR / Safety / Operational), recruitment agency, freight forwarding and logistical services. All these activities are in the hands of a single cluster of shipping companies, thereby creating optimal synergies. Mercurius has offices in Zwijndrecht (head office, Netherlands) and Amsterdam (Netherlands), Lokeren (Belgium), Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Prague (Czech Republic) and Zrenjanin (Serbia).