Page 38: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (January 1993)

Atlantic Marine's Empress

Kvaerner Masa-Yard's Barfleur

Gladding-Hearn's Jet Express II

OUTSTANDING

VESSELS a

Ol

The portfolio of outstanding passenger vessels delivered in 1992 is indeed a diverse lot. Ranging from the 517- foot car/passenger ferry, Barfleur, built by Kvaerner Masa-Yards, to the 222-foot casino boat, Empress, constructed by Atlantic Marine, to the 42.5-foot river excursion boat,

Yookene Spirit, from Munson Manu- facturing, this year's group of 11 vessels represent a broad spectrum in terms of size, design and function.

For example, the two casino boat entries, The President from Leevac and the Empress from Atlantic Ma- rine, are similar in size and function but differ drastically in design. The modern-look Empress incorporates its gaming facilities in an up-to-date yacht appearance, while The Presi- dent recaptures the old-time charm of the paddlewheeler.

In all there are three ferries, two casino and two "excursion" boats, two dinner/passenger boats, a mini cruise boat and a whale watch boat.

The following story gives full speci- fications of each vessel, and pro- vides due credit to builders and sup- pliers for creating the outstanding passenger vessels of 1992.

EMPRESS

Atlantic Marine, Inc.

Circle 42 on Reader Service Card

Atlantic Marine, Inc., of Jackson- ville, Fla., built and delivered the $27 million, 222-foot by 66-foot

Empress casino boat for the Des

Plaines River Entertainment Corp. of Joliet, 111. The contemporary, yacht-look casino boat incorporates a bow that makes the boat look like a catamaran, although she is a monohull configuration.

The boat, which has a capacity for 1,200 passengers and 100 crew, offers gaming cruises on the Des

Plaines River. Designed by Rodney

E. Lay Associates, Inc. of Jackson- ville, the vessel is powered by two

Caterpillar 3412 TA marine engines turning ZF BW251 reduction gears with a 4.13:1 ratio. Caterpillar also supplied: two 3508,715-kW genera- tor sets for shipboard electricity; a 3304NA, 113-kW emergency gen- erator; and a 3208TA engine to power the Schottel SST170,48-inch bow thruster.

The Empress' Las Vegas-style interior was designed by Directions in Design of St. Louis. The two grand ballroom-size casinos are lo- cated on the upper and main decks.

Deck access is provided by a 27- person Montgomery hydraulic el- evator. The vessel's electronic gear includes Furuno radar, a

Datamarine International depth sounder and VHF radios from Icom and Si-tex.

EMPRESS

Equipment List

Main engines Caterpillar

Reduction gears ZF

Generator sets

Emergency generator

Caterpillar

Caterpillar

Schottel

Bowthruster engine Caterpillar

Hydraulic elevator

Radar

Depth sounder

VHF radios

Montgomery

Furuno

Datamarine International

Icom and Si-tex

Trinity Marine's Greatland Munson Manufacturing's Yookene Spirit 40 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News