Baltic Workboats AS (BWB) has signed an agreement to build 1+1 road ferries for the Swedish traffic authority Trafikverket’s ferry company Färjerederiet. The vessels are to be sister-ships of the biggest road ferry in the Färjerederiet fleet – Saturnus – with a total length of 100 meters and width of 18 meters. The ferries are built for a load of up to 600 tons with enough space for 80 cars and 297 passengers. The first ship has to be ready for service by mid 2017.
Maximum speed 11 knots is to be achieved via four Volvo Penta D16MH main engines and two Rolls-Royce US155 FP azimuth thrusters. The hull is designed so that fuel consumption as well exhaust emissions are at a low level, the latter will be even lowered with exhaust gases after treatment system. Thanks to modern technologies the ferry can be operated by a crew of only two. The ships are to be built according to Finnish-Swedish ice class rule 1B, which means a ship has to maintain at least 5 knots speed operating in a channel of 80cm of brash ice.
“These are to be the biggest vessels ever built in Saaremaa and there are very few projects in the history of Estonian shipbuilding to compete with these in terms of length” said Margus Vanaselja, CEO of Baltic Workboats. “We are extremely proud to build these vessels and to add such a chapter in our history.”
Färjerederiet is the biggest ship operator in Sweden with over 22 million persons and 12 million vehicles transported annually. Anders Werner, the manager of Färjerederiet added: ”I am very satisfied that we continue to strengthen our fleet. The new car ferry will be an important addition in our efforts to increase our capacity.”
Baltic Workboats is an Estonian based shipyard located in Nasva, Saaremaa island, with 2015 turnover of 23 million Euros. The yard currently builds variety of vessels for Belgian, German, Swedish, Austrian and Estonian customers.
