Turkish shipyard delivers first two in six ferry order

APRIL 22, 2014 — Turkey’s Ares Shipyard has delivered the first two of eight 51-passenger ferries that will serve Qatar’s new Anantara Doha Island Resort & Spa, 11 km east of Doha.

Designed by BMT Nigel Gee (BMT), a subsidiary of BMT Group, the composite catamarans are 18m long with a beam of 6.7 m.

Business class seating and refreshment facilities are provided on board within a fully air conditioned passenger saloon. The vessel is capable of a maximum speed of 29 knots, and a service speed of 22 knots meaning that a typical passage from Doha to the resort will take around 16 minutes.

BMT worked closely with Ares Shipyard to produce an innovative design with particular attention to ease of construction.  This has allowed the first two vessels to be delivered to the customer less than seven months after initial discussions on the project. The remaining six vessels will be delivered over the next four months with four currently in build.

“In order to support the opening of the resort, it was important to deliver the first vessel early in 2014,” says Kerim Kalafatoglu, Managing Director of Ares Shipyard. “BMT Nigel Gee proved again that it is one of very few design companies that can develop robust design solutions, whilst providing suitable levels of support during such an aggressive build schedule, without major discrepencies and delays.”

“The ability of Ares Shipyard to deliver these vessels on schedule to such a high quality of finish is confirmation of the professionalism and dedication of the shipyard,” says Ed Dudson, Technical Director of BMT Nigel Gee.