BMT Nigel Gee secures LNG ferry contract

BMT Nigel Gee has released a statement claiming that it has secured a contract to design two 70 m aluminium hull catamaran RoPax ferries for Rederij Doeksen. BMT, an independent naval architecture and marine engineering design consultancy, will be responsible for concept through to production design.

Both of the vessels will commence service in April 2018, and will serve the Friesland Islands connecting Harlingen, Terschelling and Vlieland (the Netherlands). They will be constructed in Vung Tau, Vietnam, by Strategic Marine – a subsidiary of Triyard Holdings. Vripack, meanwhile, will perform the exterior and interior styling.

Both vessels will operate on LNG, with both main engines and generators running off the LNG supply. They will be capable of carrying over 60 cars and 600 passengers, and are designed to interface with existing port facilities. They also feature wind generators and solar panels.

The Technical Director of BMT Nigel Gee, Ed Dudson, said: “Winning this project with Strategic Marine from an international tender process is excellent. This is an incredibly exciting project for us to be working on – to develop these vessels with such low emissions to operate in the Wadensee is a fantastic opportunity. The vessels will be built in aluminium to minimise weight, thereby further reducing emissions. They will be the first passenger vessels to have the new MTU 4000 series gas engine installed. Bow thrusters will be run from stored power, recharged from shore power. At 70 m long with a 17 m beam, the vessels will also have a very low operating draft of 2.5 m to facilitate operating in the Wadensee, an area of particularly shallow water. Manoeuvrability will be excellent with the use of Azimuthing thrusters.”

Edited from press release by David Rowlands

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/small-scale-lng/04082016/bmt-nigel-gee-secures-lng-ferry-contract-2859/