DAMEN’s truly unique composite Water Taxi enters service

DAMEN is well-known worldwide for its “standardisation concept” but recently the Dutch shipyard group embarked on a truly unique project when it was asked to develop an unusual composite vessel.

Unusually, this challenging project actually started when DAMEN entered an international competition held by the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) which asked designers in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia to come up with a design for a new Water Taxi to be operated in the Dubai Creek.

These very special vessels represent the first time Dubai has used boats for unscheduled/ on demand public transport and for DAMEN, this was also a first because although it has built some composite vessels in the past, the group has never used carbon-fibre to such an extent.

In mid 2008, DAMEN was delighted to hear that they had won the prestigious competition and work started on this exceptional “taxi” shortly afterwards. As the illustrations show, this is anything but a regular taxi.

The DAMEN Water Taxi embodies luxury with leather seats, personal television screens, air-conditioning, tinted glass and more than ample legroom. With a cruising speed of 34 knots, the new Water Taxi is very spacious and airy and seats 10 passengers comfortably. The rich gold coloured roof was inspired by the shape and colour of the Dubai’s metro stations.

“We do not create vessels like this every day but this distinguishes us from other shipbuilders and shows that we are capable of taking on such a challenging project,” says DAMEN Product Director Henk Grunstra.

“This vessel clearly deviates from traditional ferries and is simply unique. We have the technology and knowledge and we have developed this further to contribute to innovative new techniques. It is not possible to take on such an unusual project without this innovative attitude.

“With the Water Taxi there was a good vision in the first place and there was a very conscious design.” The taxi had to be a certain weight to be within the design limits and using carbon composite meant this worked very well, he adds.

The DAMEN Water Taxi was also a particular challenge because the company was given the instructions that the vessel had to be “exactly the same as the design, exactly”, he stresses. In addition, Dubai’s extreme temperatures meant that the new taxi should include large air conditioning units and additionally, DAMEN developed special overlapping side windows to provide extra shade for the soaring summer temperatures.

A flexible attitude was vital during the build because the Water Taxi certainly required the group to think out-of-the-box to come up with the innovative design and this included working with several specialist firms, which were not necessarily traditional suppliers. This included working with, Design Triangle, which is not a typical naval architect but an industrial design house involved in the transport sector, when it came to the initial design sketches.

And because the vessel had to have a light-weight design, DAMEN partnered a specialist firm, Lightweight Structures of Delft, when it decided to build the whole vessel as a carbon-fibre composite. This company often works in the aviation and automotive industries so again, DAMEN had to think out-of-the-box.

The hulls were fitted out at DAMEN in Gorinchem and the whole interior of the taxi was built and designed by DAMEN. The composite hulls were built at Lightweight Structures in Delft, with in fact, 45 moulds used to produce each vessel.

Another major challenge was the front window which is unusual in that it has double curvature effect. Here again, DAMEN had to be creative. Initial efforts with a more traditional supplier were unsuccessful because the company could not manage the complex, two-directional curved design. Instead, DAMEN chose a specialist automotive glass manufacturer more used to working on luxury cars for the window.

Work started on the first of the five Water Taxis in November 2008 and the first prototype was tested at Gorinchem in the summer last year. These first five were completed in March this year.

DAMEN experts conducted three-week training courses for the crew of the new vessels. The DAMEN Service hub in Dubai is always on standby for all the maintenance and support services, as well as any training requirements.

The first batch of vessels was shipped by barge to the Port of Antwerp and there they are literally wrapped in protective packaging before being sent on deep sea vessels to Dubai.

Five of the Water Taxis will be in service this spring in Dubai and five more are expected to arrive later this year.

“We have gained a great deal of knowledge during this project and we would certainly take on a composite build again where we can make full use of our experiences,” emphasises Mr Grunstra. “The DAMEN Water Taxi could well become an iconic design of the future!” he adds.