James N. Miller Signs Swath Ocean Agreement

James N. Miller & Sons of St.

Monans, Fife, Scotland, has signed an exclusive agreement with Swath Ocean International to build their range of small waterplane area twinhull (SWATH) vessels for the European market.

Swath Ocean and Miller's also envision adding into their agreement the outfit of the Swath Ocean Regency and Super-Regency highspeed RO/RO ferries at the McTay Marine Shipyard in Bromborough near Liverpool. Miller's and McTay's are commonly owned by Mowlem Regional Construction Company, a part of the John Mowlem PLC Group.

The vessels—originally designed by Swath Ocean in 1979—are renowned in the U.K. for their advanced seakeeping capabilities compared to monohulls and multihulled vessels, including catamarans.

Orders are currently under negotiation for the Swath 2000 and 4000 models. James N. Miller is due to start work on these vessels in early 1991 with plans underway to extend the agreement to cover the Regency and other classes in the near future The recently announced steelhulled Regency and Super-Regency high-speed RO/RO ferries marketed by Swath Ocean are 1,600 and 2,300 tons, respectively, and can carry 125 to 247 vehicles plus 450 and 750 passengers at respective service speeds of 38 and 35 knots employing Rolls Royce 2C Spey marine turbines.

The Swath Ocean agreement will increase Miller and McTay's current product range which includes tugs, passenger vessels, fishing boats, pilotboats and catamarans.

For free literature on the facilities and capabilities of James N. Miller, Circle 37 on Reader Service Card For further information and free literature on Swath Ocean, Circle 36 on Reader Service Card

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