Ferry News Archive
Dunkerque Spirit sees Norfolkline reduce Cross Channel sailing to 1 3/4 hours
Date: 17 Jan 2006 00:00 Source: Lloyds ListKorean shipbuilding has made a seminal impact on the north European ro-pax market with the entry of the 35,000 gt Maersk Dunkerque into Cross Channel Ferry service under the Norfolkline banner.
As the first of a trio ordered by the AP Moller group from Samsung Heavy Industries, the vessel is distinguished by an especially high service speed of 25 knots, a powerful manoeuvring system, environmental class notation and separate and exclusive decks for passengers and Freight drivers.
The design has enabled Dutch-based Norfolkline to schedule a crossing time of 1 hour 45 minutes on the Dover Dunkerque ferry route, 15 minutes less than that provided with the company’s 22-knot Dawn Merchantseries.
The nature of the latest investment, with its advance in speed, power and reserve, reflects the crucial need to ensure attractive passage times, year-round service dependability and high productivity in the most intensely competitive shortsea market.
Maersk Dunkerque is laid out for 780 passengers, accompanied by up to 200 cars, and the freight-loading capability amounts to 2,000 lane-metres for trucks and trailers on two decks.
The requisite double-level loading and discharge is achieved using shoreside linkspans, as is the practice on Dover-based near-sea ferry crossings.
The drive-through configuration employs a MacGregor access package including wing-type bow doors, bulwark visor, main deck inner bow door and upper deck front door, and sliding-type stern door.
Arranged between the main and upper vehicle decks, the MacGregor hoistable, tilting ramp on the port side comprises a single main section. Lowered from either the forward or aft ends, and stowing flush to the upper deck, the unit will serve inter-deck transfers when necessary, giving the vessel the flexibility to use berths other than the regular terminals served by double-level linkspans.
The two truck decks offer a clear height of 4.9 m, and have 3.0 m-wide lanes with interposed, flush lashing points. A dedicated car deck is incorporated above the upper trailer deck — reached via fixed internal ramps forward and aft on the starboard side.
While the new breed does not greatly exceed the company’s previous generation of Astilleros Espanoles (now Izar)-built ro-pax ferries in physical size and ro-ro capacity, the Danish owning group has opted for a significantly higher service speed of 25 knots, and top speed in excess of 28 knots. This is rendered by a power concentration of 38,400 kW, compared with 23,760 kW in the older, former Cenargo ships.
Maersk Dunkerque’s plant comprises four eight-cylinder medium-speed diesels of MAN B&W’s L48/60B type, yielding 9,600 kW apiece with the added merit of low NOx emissions and an absence of visible smoke, even at low loads. Just as the potent, multi-engine installation incorporates a margin so that the ship has sufficient power and speed reserve to recover schedules following delays caused by adverse weather or other factors, the auxiliary outfit is also sized in a most circumspect manner.
The heavy fuel oil-burning, MAN B&W 32/40 engine-driven gensets each produce 2,880 kW, and are located in a compartment separate to that of the main machinery room for safety and maintenance reasons.
The ship’s handling qualities in the close-quarter situations and constant working in and out of terminals implicit in a Dover/Dunkirk operation owe much to an outfit of three 1,800 kW bow thrusters, a 1,800 kW stern thruster, twin propellers and high-lift rudders.
The new ferry fulfils Lloyd’s Register’s requirements for the Environmental Protection notation. Norfolkline’s specification prescribed low noise impact and an environmentally-compatible cooling arrangements. The vessel also features environmentally-friendly waste disposal and additional protection around the bunker tanks.
The second-of-class is expected to commence duties next month, with the third ship is due in July, and it is understood that the chosen names are Maersk Delft and Maersk Dover.
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