President of Argentina Christens LNG Ferry

President of Argentina, Christina Fernandez de Kirchner, became the “Godmother” to a vessel Francisco, in honour of the Argentine born Pope, the 99 metre World’s Fastest Ship, and the first large dual fuel high speed Ro-Ro to use LNG as its primary fuel.

The vessel was built in Hobart by Incat Tasmania and delivered recently to South American company Buquebus.

The Argentinian President was joined by the President of Uruguay Jose Mujica, at the glittering ceremony in Buenos Aires, with both Presidents jointly cutting the ribbon at around 8pm Monday evening Argentina time in front of 1500 invited VIP guests.

The ship, Francisco, commences service tomorrow on the River Plate between Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

Francisco, world first high speed dual-fuel vehicle and passenger ferry, is the world’s fastest ship having achieved a lightship speed of 58.1 knots – (107.6 kilometres an hour). This is certainly the fastest ship in the world…of course there’s a few speed boats that could surpass 58 knots, but nothing that could carry 1000 passengers and 150 cars.

The vessel’s high speed can be attributed to the combination of Incat wave piercing catamaran design, the use of lightweight, strong marine grade aluminium, and the power produced by the two 22MW GE LM2500 gas turbines driving Wartsila LJX 1720 SR waterjets.

Incat Chairman, Robert Clifford, said “Incat is delighted with the efficiency of the design and sure that our customer, Buquebus, are thrilled with the results, enabling the ferry to compete with airline traffic on the River Plate route.”

[mappress]
LNG World News Staff, October 02, 2013; Image: Incat