Aluminium Boats Australia Launches 35m Passenger Ferry

Queensland State Premier Anna Bligh helped Aluminum Boats Australia Launch and hand over its latest vessel the first in a five boat order of 400 passenger Enviro Cat ferries. The vessel was delivered to Transit Systems for utilization on the LNG project between Gladstone Harbor and Curtis Island on the central Queensland coas.

This vessel is being delivered on time, on budget and ready to work, it represents what Aluminum Boats can do as a manufacturing force, it represents best practise methods and real quality control, it represents the best in Australian and Queensland manufacturing and it represents one of the largest component orders for Queensland manufacturing on the Gladstone Gas project.

These vessels are a testament to environmental management; they were commissioned by Transit Systems, with the support of Bechtell and the major gas proponents from GLNG and APLNG. Vitally they were designed in keeping with The Queensland governments environmental mandate set down for Gladstone, for fast passenger vessels.

In conjunction with One2Three Naval Architects, Aluminum Boats have created a transport system, which boasts lower fuel use per passenger than a small four cylinder car, these are amazing and the company believes international record breaking figures.

In concert with this Aluminum Boats have a hull and machinery package specifically designed and developed to protect maritime flora and fauna, low wake low emission, ultra low fuel consumption and the capacity to dramatically alter the environmental balance in the region of Curtis Island.

The hull is designed and engineered to have no external protrusions, rounded in profile to create a minimal impact zone and very shallow in draft, with no keel or external intake objects or propeller protrusions.  Jet intakes are guarded to prevent any intake of marine mammals, the jets throw out a minimal wake pattern comparative to the required thrust, and the boats have amazing maneuverability in all conditions. With the combination of hull shape and jet propulsion Aluminum Boats have dramatically reduced the draft of the vessels, (approx 1.3 meters comparative to 2 + Meters for propellers) a critical factor in what is predominantly a fairly shallow operating environment.

On these 35 meter vessels, in addition to the  Kamewa Jet units is a Humphree active ride control system, a computer controlled hydraulically activated ride control system, designed to provide minimal vessel motion and optimum vessel trim, thus reducing wake at all stages of the vessels progress and lowering fuel consumption.

The vessels also boast a quad (4) Scania engine and Rolls Royce Kamewa jet propulsion system, providing a dramatic decrease in fuel usage and emissions, when vessels transit empty, as two engines can be shut down as the passenger weights are now dramatically reduced (3.2 tonnes). This system will also reduce fuel usage in harbour and at low speed where signifigantly less thrust is required.

Without good visibility for the operator, much of the advantage of the sophisticated drive system is lost.

In these vessels the helmsman sits high and forward with a massive radius windscreen and full screen high-speed Speich pantograph wipers to deal with spray and rain. The comprehensive electronics package provided by Ultimate Marine power provides operational safety during low visibility with high speed Furuno radar and electronics, FLIR and AIS systems (automatic collision avoidance and locator system which responds to Gladstone harbors receivers giving data on speed, position, course and vessel information) all forming a part of the skipper’s arsenal in observation and protection.

Visibility is also a factor at night, for this reason the vessels all have FLIR night vision, this is thermal imaging system, developed for military application, which can differentiate between warmer blooded mammals on the surface in quite amazing conditions, on the larger faster vessels we combine this system with a linked high power search light to identify objects and assist in careful avoidance and identification.

The vessels have no water borne emissions, other than circulated raw water cooling. This ensures a pollution free system with zero overboard liquid discharges and the latest European standard exhaust systems are utilized to minimize emissions. All onboard sewerage systems are marine compliant and are pumped out to land based disposal units. The vessel systems are designed to optimize onboard power systems.

These are the fundamental building blocks on which these vessels are based, these vessels have always been intended to achieve the best possible outcome for the local marine environment, the systems are improved when options are available and the ideal of optimum performance and best practice is under constant review.

[mappress]

Source: Aluminium Boats Australia, September 21, 2011.