Focus July 2020

Follow us We have successfully completed sea trials for our latest design, the first of two 70m 100% LNG-fuelled ROPAX ferries designed for the operator Rederij Doeksen in the Netherlands. The two sisterships ‘Willem Barentsz’ and ‘Willem de Vlamingh’ were built by Strategic Marine Shipyard (Vietnam) while final outfit and commissioning were completed by Rederij Doeksen. With an operating area within an UNESCO World Heritage Site (The ‘Wadden Sea’), the main focus for Rederij Doeksen, led by its managing director Paul Melles, was to reduce the environmental impact of the vessel operation. We supported this ambition and provided the technical solution to reduce NOx, CO2, and noise while increasing the efficiency of the design to achieve lower operational costs. In order to support the increased traffic on the route between Harlingen and Terschelling, different newbuild options were considered. The medium speed aluminium catamaran platform was selected to achieve significant fuel consumption reduction compared to an equivalent monohull. Having considered these requirements together with the specificity of the route, we developed the full ship detailed design. Sylvain Julien, Director of Naval Architecture at Specialised Ship Design, BMT, commented: LNG Ferries Designed by BMT Complete Sea Trials The development of full aluminium vessels to meet national rules that typically assumes steel construction has, as always, been a challenge. Despite this, the end result demonstrates the benefits in terms of low power consumption, and specifically for Rederij Doeksen’s operation, the low operating draft. “ “