Austal’s ‘Leonora Christina’ completes sea trials

Austal’s largest catamaran built to date, the 113-metre ‘Leonora Christina’ for Denmark’s Bornholmer Færgen, has recently completed sea trials, marking the final stage in the construction of the high-speed vehicle-passenger ferry at Austal’s Henderson, Australia shipyard.

Austal was awarded the contract to build ‘Leonora Christina’ in April 2009, and the vessel has been built to comply with stringent Danish regulations, covering environmental noise, wave-wash and exhaust emissions, as well as ergonomic working arrangements for the crew and strict fire and safety standards.

The vessel design was customised to fit Bornholmer Færgen’s existing high-speed ferry berths, which it will share with the smaller ‘Villum Clausen’. This resulted in significant savings for the operator, as only minimal modifications were needed to be made to the ports of Ronne and Ystad.