BMT designing new RoPax ferry for Scotland

MARCH 9, 2017—BMT Nigel Gee (BMT), Southampton, UK, a subsidiary of BMT Group, will design an 85m steel-hulled catamaran RoPax ferry for Scottish ferry operator Pentland Ferries that will enter service in the summer of 2018.

The ferry will be built at Strategic Marine in Vietnam, a subsidiary of Triyards Holding Limited, and BMT will be responsible for concept through to production design, working closely with the shipyard.

The new RoPax ferry will replace catamaran ferry Pentalina, which has been operating on the route from the Scottish mainland to the Orkney Islands since 2008. The Pentalina has a capacity to carry 9 tractor trailers, 30 cars, and 250 passengers. During peak season, her passenger capacity increases to 346.

By comparison, the replacement ferry will have significantly more capacity, with the capability of transferring up to 98 cars or a combination of cars and trucks together with 430 passengers from Gills Bay on the mainland to St. Margaret’s Hope on the Orkney Islands. The crossing takes about one hour, sailing through Pentland Firth and into the Orkney Archipelago. This is the shortest and quickest sea route to Orkney with a vehicle.

The new ferry will have a length of 84.5m, with propulsion power supplied by four Yanmar 6EY17W main engines. The ferry will travel at a service speed of 16 knots. with capacity for 50,000 liters of fuel plus an additional 50,000 liters in a long-range fuel tank.  The additional fuel capacity will allow the ferry to make the 5,481 nautical mile delivery trip on her own bottom from Strategic Marine in Vietnam to the Orkney Islands.