Page 11: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2004)

News hydraulically raised and locked in stow position under the ceiling of the deck.

With only trucks onboard the main hold will take 72 trucks, with 16 on the lower hold. With only cars onboard the main hold including the total hoistable deck will take 624 cars and the lower hold will take 79 cars. Both car decks offer additional parking area for a total of 142 motorbikes.

The ferry features a stern and bow ramp for loading and unloading, and both ramps serve as watertight door.

A Siemens automation system consists of several workstations and monitoring stations and includes redundant main process stations communicating through a fiber optic network arranged in a cir- cular way. All decentralized input- and output stations and several independent systems like the propulsion plant, diesel engines, A/C cooling plant, steam boiler system, fresh water generator, integrated bridge system etc. are connected to the independent main process stations through a field bus system in fiber optic technology which is also partially redun- dant. For optimum maneuverability, the ship is equipped with two CP propellers, two spade rudders as well as two bowthrusters and one stern thruster. The spade rudders have a surface of 18.5 sq. m. each and are operated through rotary vane steering gears. Both bow and stern thrusters have a controllable pitch pro- peller with a propulsive power of 2,000 kW each. The ship is propelled by a four-engine system with reduction gears and controllable pitch propellers. The output of the flexibly mounted engines (MAK, four-stroke diesel engine, type 12 VM 43) is 10,800 kW (14,700 hp) each at 500 rpm. The engines have been designed to operate on heavy fuel oil.

Through a Flender reduction gear two diesel engines each drive a CP Wartsila propeller and a 4,500 kW shaft genera- tor. The shaft generator provides the transverse thrusters or the ship's net- work with energy.

Electrical power is provided by three

MAK 8 M 25 diesel generator sets, with an output of 2,400 kW each at 750 rpm.

These are flexibly mounted and have been designed to operate on heavy fuel oil. In addition, one emergency genera- tor (Caterpillar, 600 kW at 1,500 1/min) was installed.

The ferry is fitted with an air condi- tioning system guaranteeing for its serv- ice area a year-round constant room tem- perature of 23° C . More than 120 AC and ventilation plants are arranged in nine fan rooms and handle a total air vol- ume of approximately 1,164.000 cu. m./hr.

Circle 1 on Reader Service Card

Rousse Prestige Christened

Merewede Shipyard on March 18 christened the Rousse Prestige, a new inland ves- sel for Dunav Tours of Rousse in Bugaria. The christening took place at the

Whilhelminakade in Rotterdam and was performed by Daneta Zheleva, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Danav. The contract for the vessel was in March 2003 in Sofia Bulgaria. With the Rousse Prestige, Merwede Shipyard has delivered anoth- er luxury river cruise. The Rousse Prestige, like the Rouse, is named after the

Danube city where Dunav Tours is headquartered, has been long term chartered to

German DCX-Touristik, yet operates with a Bulgarian Dunav Tours crew.

Circle 280 on Reader Service Card • Construction complies with United States Navy and Coast Guard Specifications. • Core consists of closed-cell, resilient, energy absorbing foam, covered with a protective, seamless polyurethane elastomer skin. • Filament nylon tire cord reinforcement is continously wound in the skin for added strength and durability. • Will not mark or scratch vessel hulls. • Constructed with integral swivel end fittings, internally connected with a heavy duty chain. • Easy to install with very little maintenance. • Hull conforming design • Light weight and extremely buoyant with a lower reaction force than either hard rubber or pneumatic fenders. (Almost 40% higher energy absorption than pneumatic fenders.)

URETHANE PRODUCTS CORPORATION (800) 913-0062

Stocking Distributors:

Waterman Supply Company 910 Mahar, Wilmington, CA 90744, U.S.A. 1-800-322-3131

Tel (310) 522-9698 • Fax (310) 522-1043

Anchor Marine &

Industrial Supply, Inc. 6545 Lindbergh, Houston, TX 77087, U.S.A. 1-800-233-8014

Tel (713) 644-1183 • Fax (713) 644-1185 —m

URETHANE PRODUCTS CORPORATION • 9076 R0SECRANS AVENUE • BELLFL0WER • CALIFORNIA • 90706 1-800-913-0062 • 1-562-630-4982 • Fax 1-562-630-6974 • www.urethaneproducts.com

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April 2004 11