ARC Resolve in Baltimore September 20, 2019

This 199x32m (653x105ft) roro ship was built in 2006 by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in South Korea. She was acquired from Wallenius Wilhelmsen and is now owned by American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier (ARC) and renamed from Otello to ARC Resolve. She can carry up to 6,736 cars.

She was in Baltimore, Maryland to participate in a naming ceremony for herself and two bigger sisters, ARC Independence (formerly named Faust) and ARC Integrity (Formerly named Fedora), both also built by Daewoo in 2007 and 2008 respectively. These two roro ships are 227x32m (747x105ft) and were also acquired from Wallenius Wilhelmsen.

I was lucky enough to be invited to this ceremony which included a tour of the ARC Resolve. After arriving and checking in I was driven by golf cart past the ship and noted that although her new name had been painted on she is still in her Wallenius Wilhelmsen green livery (which can be seen in this PDF data sheet from when she was the Otello) and on board over her stern ramp to begin my tour of this ship.

The stern ramp, capable of a 240MT load, leads to the middle of 5 decks of open space with holes in the steel floor for tie downs. This middle deck has the highest ceiling and is capable of holding V-22 Osprey aircraft and CH-47 Chinook helicopters in sea configuration. This is important because by law government-impelled cargo must travel via US Flagged vessel which all ARC ships are.

A ramp leads down to the lower two decks which are both visible from the middle deck. Once enough people arrived to start a tour we began walking up to the next cargo deck above. This deck can be lowered by one large square at a time by a pair of trucks built for this purpose that live on the middle deck.

Once on the top deck we exited through a side door onto a weather deck. Roro ships like this one have large boxes on this deck for ventilating exhaust from the cargo being loaded or unloaded below.

Led to the bow of the ship we had a great view both of the bridge and of some parts of Baltimore.

Entering into the ship via another door we were greeted by a nice little coffee area. Going further in I was very surprised to find what looked like the foyer of a hotel complete with skylight.

A crew dining room with big windows looking towards the bow of the ship is adjacent to the foyer area along with a big kitchen.

Going up a deck is more of the foyer area. Above the crew dining room is the captain’s quarters which is very spacious and includes a living room, dining room, at least two offices and some private spaces including the bedroom.

Another deck up is a door that leads to the bridge. It actually leads to a comfortable breakroom looking space which is open to the bridge up a half flight of stairs.

The bridge is the biggest surprise on the ship. It has 360 degree visibility for the crew. From the bow of the ship it could be seen that the wings are fully enclosed but you don’t get a feel for the massive size of the space until you’re in it.

At the edges of the wing of the bridge are two little windows that look straight down. It wasn’t as scary as it might otherwise be because there was nothing below to give a sense of how high we are other than the ground.

The center of the bridge looks like a cross between a conventional ship bridge and an airline cockpit. There are 3 seats, one in the rear center and two that can slide towards the control panels. There’s a lot to take in on this huge bridge.

There’s even a couple of interesting signs about pilot boarding and light signals. The pilot sure does have a long trek up to the bridge from the pilot boat!

After looking around the amazing bridge for a time we exited through a rear door of the bridge and onto an open deck area. The skylight providing natural lighting to the “hotel foyer” below is seen here. An equipment tower on top of the bridge can be seen here and scaffolding can be seen about it showing that work is in progress as it is being modified to suit its new owner’s requirements.

The ship wasn’t yet finished amazing me as the tour guide pointed out a swimming pool!

Looking aft from this deck another equipment tower and the funnel were both also encased in scaffolding. A basketball hoop and wood shed are also in this area. This ship sure seems to have a lot of space and amenities for her crew!

After returning to the middle cargo deck where the snacks are (provided by Classic Catering) with pair of friendly and helpful ladies were on hand to help out and enjoying a quick bite I moved on to the engine room.

The engine room control room and attached break area are the first place seen.

The engine room itself is massive multilevel space with a lot of different kinds of equipment.

I don’t know what most of things things are or what their purpose is but it shows it takes a lot to move a floating parking lot!

A massive THANK YOU to ARC for allowing me to come take a look at this amazing ship! She and her bigger sisters will definitely be strong additions to the US Flag roro capabilities.

More photos of this ship can be seen by clicking here.