On 30th September 2016 Remontowa Shipbuilding signed a contract for the construction of two car passenger ferries for a British Owner – Transport for London.
Transport for London (TfL) was established in 2000 and is the integrated body responsible for London’s transport system. TfL implements the Mayor’s Transport Strategy and manages transport services across the capital for which the Mayor has responsibility. The new vessels will be operating the Thames crossing in the district of Woolwich carrying over a million vehicles and 2.6 million passengers a year.
They will be built according to “LMG 60-DEH” design prepared by LMG Marin and will comply with rules and regulations of Lloyds Register of Shipping and the Maritime & Coastguard Agency. Briggs Marine Contractors, who operate the Woolwich Ferry service under a long term contract with TfL, will be providing the Owner’s Plan Approval and Build supervision for TfL supported by Keel Marine.
The new ferries have been specifically designed to match the refurbished linkspans at Woolwich and will replace the current three vessels built in 1963. The new ferries will be equipped with 210 lane meters of vehicle deck space with dedicated cyclist accommodation separated from foot passengers. The vessels will be licensed to carry 150 passengers.
The vessels’ propulsion system has been designed around the principals of maximum efficiency, inbuilt redundancy, high reliability and low operating costs. Therefore, each vessel will be equipped with four azimuth thrusters powered by vertically mounted permanent magnet motors. Two Diesel generating sets are installed and in normal operation only one will be running at a near constant load with the battery installation providing the peak power demand for the crossings. When the propulsion power demand is low the excess generated power will be used to recharge the batteries. This novel hybrid system provides numerous advantages and in particular by reducing the number of engine running hours and also by ensuring that the diesel generator is constantly running at optimum load it enables emissions to be minimized. To further reduce emissions the generating sets will be fitted with an Exhaust After Treatment system comprising of both an SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) and DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) making these vessels the most environmentally friendly vessel planned for operation on the River Thames.
Both ferries will be delivered to London in the Fourth Quarter of 2018.
This contract was awarded following a public EU tender announced by Transport for London in 2015 in which Remontowa Shipbuilding finished ahead of reputable shipyards from (among others) Spain, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands. Beyond doubt, a vital factor was the Shipyard’s vast experience in building car passenger ferries. During the last 15 years we have delivered to our clients over 30 such vessels with 5 more being currently under construction.
