Dual Fuel Ferries: Steel Cutting
Steel was cut on 17 February 2016 for our two new ferries being built by Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd (FMEL), marking the start of construction on the £97 million vessels.
The steel cutting ceremony took place at FMEL shipyard in Port Glasgow, where the ships are being built. Derek Mackay, the Scottish Government Minister for Transport and the Islands, joined Tom Docherty, former CEO and Liam Campbell from FMEL, to push the button to start the steel cutting machine.
The new 102m, roll on roll off vehicle passenger ferries are designed to carry 127 cars or 16 HGVs or a combination of both and up to 1,000 passengers. The ships will be capable of operating across a range of drafts and speeds to meet the requirements of the operator to service a wide range of ports and routes.
The ferries will be dual fuel vessels so they can operate on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and marine gas oil. LNG is significantly cleaner and has been adopted by ferry operators in Northern Europe in response to tighter emissions regulations. FMEL will undertake the detailed design and construction work of the new vessels in Scotland, as well as their testing, equipping, launching and delivery. The designs and drawings will be shared on our website when they are finalised in the coming months.
Erik Ostergaard, CMAL chair, said:
“The new ferries will provide a lifeline ferry service for the communities they will serve and are currently earmarked for the crossing between Ardrossan and Brodick and on the Uig Triangle route, although the final decision on vessel deployment rests with the ferry operator. We look forward to taking delivery of the ferries in 2018.”
We anticipate the first ferry launching late in 2017 and entering service in 2018, with the second vessel following a few months later. The vessels are currently known as hulls 801 and 802 and we will run a competition later in the year to name the new ferries.
We met with Community Councillors in North Uist to deliver a presentation on the new ferries. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation, which includes early designs, a comparison with the existing ferry service and information on the LNG fuel is available here.
Fabrication is now underway and the images below show progress to date.
Images of steel cutting ceremony are copyright of Mark Gibson at the Evening Times
Categories: Ferries, MV Glen Sannox & MV Glen Rosa, Projects
Tags: