Gas powered ferries look to the future
Ferries like the Edøyfjord may become a common sight.
A new, LNG powered ferry has started services in Western Norway – and the both the builders and designers believe that these ferries are “the future”.
Edøyfjord will serve the Edøya-Sandvika route to Smøla in Nordmøre County. Designed by Multi Maritime, it was delivered by Fiskerstrand BLRT to transport corporation Fjord1. Petter Klock of Multi Maritime (also part of BLRT Grupp) said, “It’s not just Norway... there is a growing market, especially in the USA, Canada and Europe, partly because of the IMO environmental regulations.”
Fjodor Berman of Estonia-based BLRT Grupp (which also owns Western Shipbuilding) says, “Market trends suggest that the future lies with such ferries.” Looking further down the road at the Baltic market, he adds he “has hopes” that the group will eventually have the opportunity to build gas-powered ferries for Estonia. The ferry itself, he says is proof that the holding is able to build eco-friendly vessels “from design development and preparation of documentation to turn-key ship building”.
Weighing in at 1,634gt the ship has two Caterpillar motors each of which drives the Schottel azimuth thrusters, giving a service speed of 11-12 knots. It has a total length of 66.4 a maximum width of 13.6 m and a capacity for 146 people, and 50 cars or four heavy goods vehicles and cars in combination. The ferry has been built to Det Norske Veritas certification and can be used in the open sea, in the EU trade area ‘C’.
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