Page 32: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 2, 2005)

32 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News

Lagan Viking Restyled

Part of Irish Sea ferry operator

NorseMerchant Ferries plan to upgrade its fleet and improve customer service included the major refurbishment of the accommodation and public spaces onboard Lagan Viking. Following dry- docking, the ship has now returned to service on the Liverpool - Belfast route as Liverpool Viking.

While clearly aimed at strengthening the well known 'Viking' brand, the renaming serves two purposes. First, in the summer of 2005, NorseMerchant

Ferries will introduce the first of two brand new passenger/freight ferries onto the Liverpool - Belfast service, enabling

Liverpool Viking to be switched to the company's Liverpool - Dublin route.

Second, it frees up the name Lagan

Viking to be used for one of the new vessels, currently under construction at the Visentini shipyard in Italy.

Major refurbishment work on

Liverpool Viking focuses on the bar, restaurant and children's play area.

With the transfer of Liverpool Viking to the Dublin route this summer,

NorseMerchant will once again be offer- ing a twice-daily passenger service between the U.K. and the Irish Republic.

She will sail alongside Brave Merchant, which currently operates on this route, until her sistership, the renamed Dublin

Viking, joins her at the year end, follow- ing the delivery of the second new ves- sel. These two new ships being built in

Italy will offer extremely high levels of driver and passenger comfort. With up to 480 passenger berths in ensuite cabins plus overnight Pullman seating, they will have a passenger capacity of almost double that of the existing ships. They will also have more spacious public areas including passenger decks and superb on-board facilities. "With their size and speed, they are ideally suited for our Belfast service," said Managing Director, Phillip

Shepherd. "In this respect they are unique; we are not aware of any ships on the market at present that would have matched our needs so well.

Placing orders for newbuildings in 2004 would only have secured deliver- ies as late as 2007 or 2008. However by securing the two Visentini sisterships currently under construction, we are now in a position to develop both the

Dublin and Belfast passenger and freight routes later this year. With a service speed of 23 knots, they will greatly improve scheduling and reliabil- ity of the Liverpool - Belfast route, something which is important not only for passengers but also for our overnight and time sensitive freight cargo."

Lang Offers Improved

Cooking Options

Lang Manufacturing introduced two major product enhancements to its line of Galley Equipment. These enhance- ments include a sturdier sea rail with a unique interlocking rail system for

Marine ranges, and improved safety fea- tures on deep fat fryers, both of which greatly increase safety in ship galleys.

Lang unveiled a new generation of sea rails, which are now a standard accesso- ry to their Marine Galley ranges. The redesigned rails now connect through an interlocking system making them quick- er and easier to install, disassemble, and clean. This new rail system provides maximum safety and increased stability for range top operations in high seas conditions. In addition to the sea rails,

Lang also displayed recent improve- ments to their Marine Galley line of deep fat fryers to meet SOLAS require- ments for redundant over-temp thermo- stats and shunt trip safety features.

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Cruise Shipping

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