German shipbuilder Lloyd Werft has been hired to convert the Danish Ro-Ro ferry Primula Seaways, a job that will see the ferry lengthened by 30 meters.
Under the contract, Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven will have 31 days to execute the task starting July 1st, with options for two further DFDS ships.
The 199.8 metre-long ship will be expanded for 30 metres in the midship section and its damage sustained in a collision off the eastern coast of England in December 2015 will be repaired.
Almost 200 metres of the ship’s hull will need to be separated at a point where the overhanging bridge is located. The hull will first be cut vertically and then horizontally to about 10 metres below the bridge. After all the ship’s supply and waste disposal pipe connections have been severed and marked, the front section of the Primula Seaways will be drawn out of the dock, the yard said.
The new midship section is 30 metres long, weighs 1,300 tons and is already being manufactured, complete with fittings and painted, at the firm of Rönner Stahlbau Bremerhaven in the Fischereihafen.
Tugs will nudge the new midship section into place in front of the stern section in dock in the Kaiserhafen. After the ship’s bow section has also been repositioned in the dock, hydraulic presses will be deployed to connect all parts with millimetre precision.
The new Primula Seaways will be 229.8 metres long and boast 4,650 lane metres for 307 trailers. As far as DFDS is concerned, the lengthening will mean a 25% increase in loading capacity.
For Lloyd Werft Board Member Dirk Petersjohann this is a sign that the yard, which now belongs to the Genting Group, “ does not regard itself purely as Genting’s own house yard ” but should and will continue to acquire orders independently on the international shipbuilding market.
In February DFDS welcomed two new ferries, Côte des Flandres and Côte des Dunes on its Dover-Calais service.
With the addition of Côte des Flandres, DFDS has increased its daily schedule of sailings between Dover and Calais to up to 30 per day. When combined with DFDS’ three ferries on the Dover-Dunkirk route, DFDS now operates six ships in total on the Dover Strait, with up to 54 daily sailings to the two French ports.