BMT Nigel Gee to design LNG fueled Doeksen duo

AUGUST 3, 2016 — Triyards subsidiary Strategic Marine has chosen Southampton, U.K., based BMT Nigel Gee to design the two 70 m LNG-fueled RoPax ferries that its Vung Tau, Vietnam, shipyard is to build for Harlingen, Netherlands, headquartered Rederij Doeksen under a EUR 44 million contracted awarded in April (see earlier story).]

BMT will be responsible for concept through to production design of the aluminum hull catamarans. The exterior and interior styling is being performed by Netherlands designer Vripack.

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 says: “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 70 m long with a 17 m beam, the vessels will also have a very low operating draft of 2.5 m 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, withwind generators and solar panels reinforcing their environmentally friendly credentials.