News

A champagne day for Hull-based Rix

J R Rix and Sons witness launch of new ship for Rix Shipping in Hull
A captain’s eye view of the M. T. Lerrix
It was a day of celebration on the waterfront of Hull at the end of May when members of the Rix family, and their colleagues from heating oil and commercial fuels specialists, J.R. Rix & Sons, and sister company, Maritime Bunkering, witnessed the launch of the latest vessel to join the Rix Shipping tanker fleet.
As maritime tradition dictates, a bottle of champagne was smashed against the distinctive green hull of the 1254 ton ship as she was named the M.T. Lerrix by Lucinda Rix, daughter of company chairman, John Rix. The name “Lerrix”, explained John, comes from Lucinda’s initials (Lucinda Emily Rix), coupled with the company convention of having the letters R,I,X, ending the six-letter name of all its ships.
Watching on, as special guests at the ceremony – held at the Dunston Shipyard at Hull’s William Wright Dock – were more than 70 customers, suppliers and employees of the company. Lord Haskins, chairman of the Humber Local Economic Partnership, responded to John Rix’s speech on behalf of the guests, congratulating his company on its continued success in a difficult economic climate.
The new ship – which will be used for bunkering along the east coast of the UK, from Leithto Harwich – has an overall capacity for 1100 tons of oil in four tanks. The 53-metre-long vessel is equipped with two Blackmer rotary vein pumps, each capable of delivering 238 cubic metres of fuel per hour, and one Blackmer rotary vein pump with a capacity of 63m3 per hour.
Maritime tradition

3 min read
Rix family celebrate new ship in Hull
The Rix family – John, Veronica, Harry, Lucinda, Robbie, Sally, Tim, Lizzie and Louise

Built locally by Rix-owned Hepworth Shipyard, the £6m steel ship is powered by two 950 kW Cummins engines. M.T. Lerrix has a range of 1200 nautical miles, and will have a crew of six.
The Rix maritime tradition dates back almost 200 years to when sea captain and merchant adventurer, Robert Rix, traded out of the port of Hull. Nowadays, Rix Shipping has a fleet of dry cargo vessels, four coastal tankers, and three estuarial barges. The J.R. Rix & Sons Group is now a fifth generation family-controlled business.
Nikki Jessop, director of Maritime Bunkering, told Fuel Oil News that the M.T. Lerrix would be totally fitted out within a few weeks of the ceremony, and would then begin its bunkering duties along the east coast of Britain, serving both long-established traders and ship owners. The Lerrix will carry up to 500 tonnes of fuel oil plus 600 tonnes of gas oil. The ship is so advanced it can blend fuel to a customer’s specific requirements, and then heat it to facilitate efficient pumping.
She said: “The Lerrix will pick up marine fuel from various locations including Associated Petroleum Terminals in Immingham, bunkering on the Humber and or other east coast ports to wherever it is required. It can fuel several ships from one load, or, in the case of a really big vessel, just service one customer and then return. The addition of the Lerrix brings our total fleet to eight ships of various different sizes.” www.rix.co.uk