Flensburger shipyard today, right on schedule, launched third newbuilding for Seatruck Ferries. The name for the third ferry for English shipping company Seatruck Ferries Ltd could hardly be more appropriate – Seatruck Performance.
That’s because, in the words of FSG Managing Director Peter Sierk , this ship represents “a super performance” by Flensburger shipbuilders.
Praising the team that has built her, Sierk told a launching ceremony in the yard’s shipbuilding hall: “we have met every deadline to date and we have the high commitment and motivation of all our 700 employees to thank for that. Performance here means, literally, success, achievement and the fulfillment of high expectations. It is that which successfully distinguishes us from other shipyards because we are not just a building facility but also one which sets great store by research and development. Only by doing this can we be in a position to fulfill our customers’ individual requirements and develop the best solutions for their business needs.”
FSG engineers place great value on eco-friendliness and on low fuel consumption. Compared to conventional ships, FSG designs consume up to 30 percent less fuel, which not only saves costs but also represents an enormous contribution to environmental protection.
These parameters also apply to the four sister ships for Seatruck Ferries Ltd, one of which has already been delivered to the customer by the FSG. The remaining three, among them Seatruck Performance will follow up to June this year. All four will find service mainly in the Irish Sea.
They are 142 metres long and 25 metres wide, boast a freight-carrying capacity of 2,166 lane metres on four decks and can carry up to 155 trailers. These four Flensburg ships are the most efficient and modern in the Seatruck fleet. At the same time they will also be the biggest ships to operate out of the northwest English port of Heysham. It was the size of this port that determined the length of the new buildings – maximum 142 metres to allow for the greatest possible load and optimal manoeuverability in a port with only limited available space. That’s also why the deckhouse is located forward – to guarantee unhampered loading of the upper decks.
Thanks to a new contract signed with a Canadian shipping company just before Christmas, orders now in hand provide work up to the end of 2013. As well as the RoRo freight ferries for Seatruck, three further RoRo freight ferries will be built at FSG for Turkey’s Ulusoy Sealines up to that date, along with one of the most eco-friendly Con- Ro ships in the world for the customer in Canada. Further projects, designed to secure the jobs of more than 700 shipbuilders in Flensburg, are currently in the planning stage.
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World Maritime News Staff, January 12, 2012; Image: Flensburger shipyard