August 2005 39
ferries, from an offering which
embraces 120-m and bigger designs as
well as the 112-m type. With the move
to larger, faster ships, a case has begun
to emerge for the use of diesel propul-
sion engines able to operate on less
expensive heavy fuel oil.
Hitherto, the reduction in payload that
would be entailed with using the heav-
ier class of residual fuel-burning, medi-
um-speed diesel machinery in vessels
up to 112-m has been unacceptable
from an economic point of view.
However, the increase in payload in
concert with ship size changes the
equation. For example, according to
Incat, a fast ship capable of lifting a
1,500-ton payload at 40-knots would
lend itself to equipping with machinery
suited to lower quality fuels. Such a
vessel is the proposed 120-m design,
for which the freight intake corre-
sponds to just over 700-lane m.
The tentative specification for the
still-to-be finalized design of 120-m
catamaran features four 20-cylinder
diesels of the MAN B&W V40/50 type,
rated at 15,000-kW apiece, to give an
overall power base of 60,000-kW, and
using IF180 intermediate fuel.
The current 112-m SeaFrame new-
build is being equipped with four 20-
cylinder engines of MAN B&W's dis-
tillate-burning, potent RK280 type, to
give a maximum 36,000kW plant out-
put.
Incat selected the new RK280 to
power the vessel at speeds ranging from
a heavy load economy speed of 20-
knots to 50-knots in light condition.
In the case of the 120-m type, a cus-
tomer's nomination of distillate-burning
plant in preference to the proposed
residual fuel engines would have a sub-
stantially beneficial effect on payload,
albeit at an extra cost in fuel.
Meanwhile, the Evolution One12
SeaFrame lends itself to a range of
applications and final configurations.
For the military sector, the design can
be completed to suit littoral combat,
mine countermeasure, theater support,
helicopter operation, troop transport
and other tasks. Alternatively, it pro-
vides a platform for passenger RoRo
ferry duties or for dedicated RoRo
freight transportation.
From the Yangtze to the
North Sea
China's multi-faceted shipbuilding
industry is progressively developing
the breadth as well as the scale of its
market reach, creating an even stronger
industrial platform for the future.
Operating experience with a family of
RoRo freight vessels turned out since
the start of the decade by Jinling
Shipyard, at Nanjing, and employed in
the Finnish trade, appears to have had a
signal bearing on the decision to entrust
further high-capacity trailerships to the
yard. Jinling's orderbook bears testa-
ment to a solid standing with European
owners, and Macoma Shipping Group's
latest investment in two 25,650-gt
RoRo cargo ferries has been endorsed
by recently-announced charter commit-
ments against the new tonnage by
North Sea carrier DFDS Tor Line.
The Danish group has signed a 10-
year timecharter deal, with an option on
a further three years, for the two
Macoma newbuilds booked at Jinling
and scheduled to be delivered in late
2007 and early 2008. Both 20-knot ves-
sels will offer a freight capacity equiv-
alent to 3,343 lane-m on four decks,
and will be well suited to the heavy
loads of paper underpinning the south-
bound traffic on DFDS Tor Line's new
route between Gothenburg and Tilbury,
near London.
The 3,455 lane-m. design used for
Macoma's 11,300-dwt sisters Finnpulp
and Finnmill has provided the basis for
the latest ships. However, a key differ-
ence in the newbuilds will be ramp
access to the weatherdeck, allowing
trailers to be carried at the uppermost
level, which is used only for LoLo con-
tainers in the Finnlines-chartered pair.
Macoma's four other modern RoRos,
the 8,400-dwt, 1,900 lane-m.
Finnmaster series, are also products of
Jinling, and were introduced to the
Finnish shortsea trade during 2000 and
2001.
Circle 224 on Reader Service Card
Plecdist: Paperless Navigation with ECDIS
The CS68 ECDIS from Simrad is based on the newly
developed, marine dedicated MC50 computer,
designed to provide SOLAS vessels with fully approved
(Wheelmark) ECDIS. Simrad has coined the phrase
PLECDIST - or Paper Less ECDIS for CS68 - to demon-
strate that the system really does enable the ability to
travel without paper charts. The fully approved and
redundant nature of the CS68 ECDIS means that no
paper charts are required on board. Additionally, auto-
matic updates for new charts and corrections means that the latest chart version is always avail-
able.
Circle 23 on Reader Service Card
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