Page 23: of Marine News Magazine (December 2020)

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TOP BOATS 2020

Maid of the Mist president Christopher Glynn and supplied critical components, in- the Mist ferries is entirely emissions- cluding manual Cavotec ship-to-shore free. “It’s an ideal state that’s not al- battery charging connection that can ways possible, but when it is, it’s really replenish the batteries in seven minutes a home run,” Schwarz said.

during the disembarkation and board- The vessels draw additional bene? ts ing period between voyages. ABB also from the thrusters, said Tim Batten, supplied a scope of electric, digital and vice president, sales at Veth’s parent connected solutions including switch- company, Twin Disc: “Having azimuth boards, drives and the integrated con- thrusters allows the Maid of the Mist trol system, in addition to a remote vessels to have great maneuverability so diagnostic system for monitoring and that the captain can get passengers close predictive maintenance. to the sights of Niagara Falls.”

Ed Schwarz, ABB’s vice president of Batten said the L-drives also increase sales, newbuilds, said the operational ef? ciency, help to save onboard space pro? le of the Maid of the Mist ves- and give passengers a more exclu- sels—frequent and relatively short sive experience to take in the sounds trips and docking times—is particu- of the towering falls. “Both thrusters larly well suited for all-electric pro- are completely isolated from the alu- pulsion. “We were able to ? t enough minum hull with a resilient mounted battery power and have a completely thruster suspension in order to reduce redundant system that freed the ves- noise and vibration transferred to the sels from having to have engines on hull. The prime movers are permanent board,” he explained. magnet motors connected directly to

The vessels, which run trips that are the azimuth thrusters, and L-drives are typically about 20 minutes long, are a good ? t for this application because charged using locally produced hydro- it has one less gear set than a Z-drive, electricity, ensuring that the energy so it is more ef? cient due to lower gear cycle for the operation of the Maid of transmission losses,” he said. www.marinelink.com