Odense Steel Shipyard ( da, Odense Staalskibsværft) was a Danish

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

company located in

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

. It was best known for building

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

s for its parent group, A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, including the Mærsk E class in 2006 which at the time were the biggest container ships in the world. The global financial crisis led to Maersk announcing its closure in 2009 and the last new ship was delivered in January 2012.

Company history

The first yard was opened in 1918–1919 by the A.P. Møller company. A new yard with bigger and better facilities was constructed 1957–1959 on a new site located in

Munkebo Munkebo is a town in central Denmark, located in Kerteminde Municipality in the Region of Southern Denmark on the island of Funen. It was also the site of the municipal council of the abolished Munkebo Municipality. The town had a population of 5 ...

a few kilometres outside

proper. Odense Steel Shipyard was the largest yard within the Odense Steel Shipyard Group, which also consisted of two yards and an engineering company, all situated in the Baltic. The yard was known for designing and building innovative vessels that applied the newest technology in design and equipment. Since 1996 the Yard built some of the world's

largest Large means of great size. Large may also refer to: Mathematics * Arbitrarily large, a phrase in mathematics * Large cardinal, a property of certain transfinite numbers * Large category, a category with a proper class of objects and morphisms (o ...

container ships; including the Mærsk E-class with a nominal capacity of 15,550 TEU (originally declared as 11,000 TEU), the highest equivalent number of any vessel as of today.Holt, Julie
Ebba Mærsk beats world record
''Ing.dk'', 28 May 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2010. However, Maersk chose

Daewoo Daewoo ( ; Hangul: , Hanja: , ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "dae" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerat ...

to build its latest and largest design, the Triple E class with a nominal capacity of 18,000 TEU, as the Asian shipyard was more competitive. The original shipyard remained in operation until 1966, when all operations were transferred to the new site. Unlike the modern shipyard, the old yard produced civilian and merchant vessels only. Its first completed ship was cargo

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

''Robert Mærsk'', completed in 1920. Its last production was Yard No. 177, the bulk carrier ''Laura Mærsk''.

The new Odense Steel Shipyard (the "Lindø" Yard)

The new shipyard originally had two building docks, No. I and II (300 × 45 × 7.5 metres each), allowing the construction of tankers of up to . The yard was enlarged in 1967 to include a new very large building dock, No. III (415 × 90 metres), and an 800-ton, 95-metre tall, 148.5-metre span

gantry crane A gantry crane is a crane built atop a gantry, which is a structure used to straddle an object or workspace. They can range from enormous "full" gantry cranes, capable of lifting some of the heaviest loads in the world, to small shop cranes, us ...

, allowing the construction of tankers in the

VLCC 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 cru ...

and ULCC class. The largest construction planned on the yard was two tankers, but this order was later cancelled. From the 1960s until 1977, the yard only constructed

oil tanker 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 crud ...

s (no larger than ) as well as bulk carriers. The first

RO-RO Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or usin ...

ship was built in 1979, and the first container ship in 1980. In December 1992, the yard completed the world's first 300,000 DWT double-hull tanker. In January 1996 they delivered its first

Post-Panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...

container ship. On 3 December 1999 the gantry crane collapsed after a hurricane in the building dock and damaged the ship No.170 ''Cornelius Mærsk'', which was nonetheless was repaired and delivered two months later.

MAN Takraf TAKRAF Group (“TAKRAF”), is a global German industrial company. Through its brands, TAKRAF and DELKOR, the Group provides equipment, systems and services to the mining and associated industries. Foundation and History While the official foun ...

of Leipzig, Germany, delivered a new 1,000 ton, 110-metre tall gantry crane in April 2001. The collapse in world shipping as a result of the 2009 Global Recession led Maersk to announce in January 2009 that Odense would concentrate on smaller ships but in May 2009 they announced that they would be closing the yard altogether and putting Baltija Shipyard in Lithuania up for sale. The last newbuild from Lindø was No.714 ''

Niels Juel Niels Juel (8 May 1629 – 8 April 1697) was a Danish admiral and a naval hero. He served as supreme command of the Dano-Norwegian Navy The history of the Danish navy began with the founding of a joint Dano-Norwegian navy on 10 August 1510, ...

'', a frigate for the Royal Danish Navy, which was delivered in January 2012.

After yard closure

After the closure of the yard in 2012, the site has been transformed to an industrial park housing a large number of companies within the offshore sector; the Lindoe Offshore Renewables Centre. Most companies work with production, storage and discharge of large components for offshore and heavy industries. The area of more than , of which is under roof, combined with the gantry crane and the harbour area makes it ideal for handling heavy industry. In 2016 elements of the yard (OM

were proposing the s for the Procurement programme of the Royal Australian Navy's frigates, but built in Australia.

List of ships built at Lindø

References

{{Coord, 55, 28, 07, N, 10, 32, 19, E, region:DK_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title Buildings and structures in Odense Shipbuilding companies of Denmark Maersk Container ships Danish companies established in 1917