BMT Nigel Gee will design two new Dutch LNG-powered ferries

BMT Nigel Gee (BMT) announced a new project to design two 70m aluminum-hull catamaran RoPax

ferries for Rederij Doeksen. BMT will be responsible for concept through to production design. Both

vessels, which will be built by Triyard Holdings subsidiary, Strategic Marine in Vung Tau, Vietnam, will

serve the Friesland Islands connecting Harlingen, Terschelling and Vlieland in the Netherlands and enter

service in April 2018.

The vessels are single fuel LNG, with both main engines and generators running off the LNG supply. The

vessels will offer significantly lower emissions than conventional steel and diesel powered vessels, with at

least a 30% reduction in CO2 and 100% reduction in NOX/SOX.

Ed Dudson, Technical Director of BMT Nigel Gee, said: “Winning this project with Strategic Marine from

an International Tender process is excellent. This is an incredibly exciting project for us to be working on –

to develop these vessels with such low emissions to operate in the Wadensee is a fantastic opportunity.

The vessels will be built in aluminum to minimize weight, thereby further reducing emissions. They will be

the first passenger vessels to have the new MTU 4000 series gas engine installed. Bow thrusters will be

run from stored power, recharged from shore power. At 70m long with a 17m beam, the vessels will also

have a very low operating draft of 2.5m to facilitate operating in the Wadensee, an area of particularly

shallow water. Maneuverability will be excellent with the use of Azimuthing thrusters.”

With the capacity to accommodate over 60 cars and 600 passengers, the vessels will be designed to

interface with existing port facilities, boast wind generators and solar panels to reinforce its

environmentally friendly credentials.

NGS INDIA