World's largest all-aluminium ferry handed-over to Fred Olsen

[Nick the Greek]

Austal hands over Benchijigua Express

Handed over to Fred. Olsen S.A. today by West Australian shipyard Austal, the 127 meter Benchijigua Express is the world's largest all-aluminum ship. It also provides a preview of the trimaran hull concept on which is based the U.S. Navy LCS being developed by the team led by General Dynamics,

Austal says the vessel is "quite simply the most significant vessel to arrive on the fast ferry stage and is set to allow fast sea transportation to improve and open up new markets beyond the ability of existing fast ferry design for both commercial and military operators."

Fred. Olsen, S.A. pioneered the use of large high-speed ferries in the Canary Islands and currently carries almost three million passengers, half a million cars and a quarter of a million cargo vehicles per year.

Since 1999, the company has been operating large fast catamarans and while happy with the results, the company identified some limitations in terms of capacity and especially passenger comfort when operating in rough seas.

This led to the conclusion that further research was needed in order to develop a new concept for high-speed vessels, combining the softer roll of monohulls with the low resistance, very good stability and carrying capacity of catamarans.

With these objectives in mind, Fred. Olsen, S.A. and Austal cooperated on an extensive program of research, tank testing and analysis, firstly to develop a new design and then ensure it would meet Fred. Olsen, S.A.'s requirements in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

The result is what is properly described as a slender stabilized monohull, but is more commonly referred to as a trimaran.

Πηγες/Sources:

Marine Log

Austal

Lineas Fred Olsen

[Nick the Greek]

"The characteristics of this new vessel, with a length of 126.7 m and beam of 30.4 m, will improve overall efficiency in terms of passenger capacity, deadweight and freight lane meters by more than 35 per cent," says Fred Olsen. Jr., Chairman of Fred. Olsen S.A., adding that "passenger comfort will increase by 25 percent to 40 percent depending on the routes we operate."

Initial full power sea trials in conditions of up to four meters significant wave height and 45 knots wind speed confirmed Austal's confidence in the 127 m vessel. Whilst the vessel met the key contract performance requirements it, most importantly, also demonstrated the trimaran's ability to exceed the operability and comfort levels of existing large catamaran designs at the upper end of the weather spectrum.

With a capacity to carry 1,350 passengers and 341 cars the ferry will operate between Los Christianos in the south of Tenerife and the islands of La Gomera and La Palma.

Arranged in two separate engine rooms in the trimaran's central hull are four MTU 20V 8000 diesel engines. Each is rated at 8,200 kW which will be upgraded to 9,100 kW during the first quarter of 2006.

The diesels in the aft engine room each drive a Kamewa 125 SII steerable waterjet from Rolls-Royce while the two forward engines deliver their combined power to a Kamewa 180 BII booster waterjet.

[Nick the Greek]

Vessel motions are controlled by the movement of three sets of control surfaces fitted to the center hull. The system consists of a single T-foil forward, two anti-roll fin stabilizers at about two-thirds of the length aft and finally two interceptors at the transom.

Benchijigua Express has a transverse metacentric height similar to a monohull ferry and therefore is fitted with a ballast and heel control system consisting of two ballast tanks and two heel control tanks.

Close inspection of the eye-catching Fred. Olsen Express livery of Benchijigua Express reveals the hull and superstructure are not in fact protected by paint but by a self adhesive film.

"While the Auto Express 127 trimaran Benchijigua Express sets new industry standards for commercial vessel performance, its design and construction are both soundly based and the technology has been identified as having military application", says John Rothwell.

A team led by General Dynamics that includes Austal has been selected to provide a trimaran hullform based design for the US Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) project. A decision on the option for the construction of an initial two 127 m vessels is expected in October 2005 with a potential 60 of these combat ships built over a forecast 15 year period for future Navy requirements.

Austal has already built two high-speed catamarans of over 100 me in length. One of these, the 101 m WestPac Express, has already proved successful in carrying out Theatre Support type duties for the U.S. Marine Corps in the Western Pacific region.

Two further 105 metre catamarans are currently under construction at Austal's Mobile, USA shipbuilding facility.

[Nick the Greek]

PRINCIPAL PARTICULARS

Length overall: 126.7 metres

Length waterline: 114.8 metres

Beam moulded: 30.4 metres

Hull depth moulded: 8.2 metres

Hull draft (maximum): 4.0 metres

Deadweight (maximum): 1000 tonnes

Crew: 35

Passengers: 1350

Vehicles: 341 cars or

450 truck lanes metres and 123 cars

Axle loads: 15.0 / 12.0 tonnes (dual / single axles) on central lanes

9.0 / 12.0 tonnes (dual / single axles) outboard

1.0 tonnes on forward ramps

0.8 tonnes on mezzanine decks

Vehicle deck clear height (max): 4.60 metres

Speed: 40.4 knots, 500 dwt, 32.8 MW

Tankage

Fuel: 145,000 litres

Fresh water: 7000 litres

Black & grey water: 7000 litres

Lube Oil: 2 x 600 litres

Hydraulic Oil: 2 x 600 litres

Sludge: 1000 litres

Propulsion

Main engines: 4 x MTU 20V 8000; 8,200kW at 1150rpm each

Gearboxes: 2 x Renk ASL65; 1 x Renk ASL 2X80

Waterjets: 2 x Kamewa 125 SII; 1 Kamewa 180 BII

Azimuthing bow thrusters: 2 x Ulstein Aquamaster UL601

Generator sets: 4 x MTU 12V 2000 M40 540 kW each

Survey Classification Germanischer Lloyd 100A5, HSC-B OC3 High Speed Passenger/Ro-Ro Type MC, AUT.

[Angelos]

if i am not wrong these should be its pictures

http://www.austal.com/gallery/gallery.cfm?category_id=12#235

[Angelos]

and these

http://www.austal.com/gallery/gallery.cfm?FromRec=1&category_id=3&vesselclass=Auto%20Express%20127%20trimaran#218