Page 9: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 1994)

FAST FERRIES: Time To Think Newbuild (Continued from page 10) the forefront of fast ferry design."

With a stylish, futuristic FRP clad superstructure from the draw- ing board of one of Europe's leading megayacht designers and a central third bow to improve sea-keeping, the 500-passenger, 45-knot TriCat met with early success, an order for five vessels from its parent com- pany in Hong Kong. One effect of the superstructure cladding is to create the illusion of a monohull rather than the blunt appearance of a conventional catamaran.

Dutch yard Royal Schelde's in- creased range of catamaran designs includes two new low wash river and inland waterway vessels of 30 knots to add to its 123-ft. (37.6-m), 144-passenger version introduced last year. At the same time the company has announced a 230-ft. (70-m) catamaran passenger/ve- hicle ferry which has greater ca- pacity — for 600 passengers and 196 vehicles — than its own 295-ft. (90-m) monohull which offers a simi- lar speed of 37 knots.

Although little is new in the hovercraft and SES sectors in Eu- rope, the SWATH concept contin- ues to be the subject of discussion.

Pure SWATH designs continue to be developed, although on an inter- national level, few have been built to date. Possibly it is more likely to attract investors in hybrid form (the

HSS vessels for Stena are semi-

SWATH catamarans).

Significant is a design from Ger- man yard Schichau Seebeckwerft for the SSW 320, a vessel designed for 600 passengers and 120 cars with a projected speed of 36 knots. The yard is currently building two fast ferries for Greek operators Attica

Enterprises, Sales Manager

Helmuth Stoterau told Maritime

Reporter, but added that all infor- mation is under wraps until the fall.

Monohulls

FBM has announced a new 148- ft. (45-m) monohull design which borrows the futuristic styling of its

TriCat, and Italian yard Rodriquez, in addition to its hydrofoil models, has diversified with the Aquastrada 331-ft. (101-m) high speed monohull in response to "a careful market sur- vey," said Sales and Marketing Di- rector Diego Mazzeo. The first examples, Guizzo and her larger sis- ter Scatto, which was delivered in

June, are now in operation between

Sardinia and mainland Italy and on the La Spezia-Olbia route. A third vessel has also been ordered by

Corsica Ferries and is due for deliv- ery in May of next year.

Another Italian leader in the field,

Fincantieri, has revised its 308 ft. (94 m) Pegasus monohull design with a superstructure styled by the Ital- ian design house of Pininfarina. The company's view is that, although it already has very high speed surface effect ships in its portfolio, there was a more immediate demand for a 35-knot deep Vee monohull project with visual appeal, simplicity of op- eration and no special technological and operational risks.

Spanish and French yards are also pitching in. Bazan has used its frigate building experience to de- velop the Mestral fast ferry concept, admitting that the monohull form of the two 315-ft. (96-m) vessels in build for Barcelona to Balearic Isle routes is totally military in origin.

With a capacity of 450 passengers and 84 cars, these two ferries will, at a service speed of 35 knots, cut the passage time to Majorca from nine to 3.5 hours. Three new designs based on the same hull and super- structure have also been announced.

French yard Leroux & Lotz has meanwhile been completing a 216- ft. (66-m) waterjet propelled monohull for service on the St. Malo/

Channel Islands route.

The company has also released details of two smaller designs, the

Corsaire 4000 and Corsaire 5000, and a much larger fast monohull vehicle ferry, the 335-ft. (102-m)

Corsaire 11000 which is predicted to give a top speed of 40 knots and carry 550 passengers and 148 cars.

Early success seems likely, as it is reported that French operator

SNCM has ordered an 11000 to serve the island of Corsica.

HDW To Buy

Fuel Cell Power

Plant From Ballard

Howaldswerke-Deutsche

Werft AG (HDW) will use Ballard

Power Systems Inc.'s Fuel Cell power plants in newbuildings.

The contract is worth almost $7 million. Ballard will supply a prototype fuel cell power plant to

HDW that will provide propul- sion and auxiliary power for ves- sels such as submarines and mer- chant ships. The first phase of the project is expected to be com- pleted by December 1995.

HDW has reportedly worked on fuel cell power plants for sub- marines for more than 13 years.

The first submarine utilizing fuel cell power was operated by the

German navy.

The Ballard Fuel Cell is a pro- prietary zero emission engine that converts natural gas or methanol fuel directly into electricity with- out combustion.

Ballard recently received a $4 million contract from the Cana- dian Department of National De- fense to design and construct fuel cell power systems.

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Circle 313 on Reader Service Card 13