Rough Seas and Small Passenger Ferries the Damen 3717 Swath Solution
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ROUGH SEAS AND SMALL PASSENGER FERRIES THE DAMEN 3717 SWATH SOLUTION Rik Vrugt, Sovereign Marine Services NV, Belgium Piet Hein Noordenbos, Damen Shipyards BV, The Netherlands Ed Dudson, Nigel Gee and Associates Ltd, UK SUMMARY This paper outlines the philosophy behind the selection of the SWATH hull form for the Province of Zeeland ferry between Vlissingen and Breskens. The Damen 3717 SWATH is currently under construction at the Schelde Yard of Damen Shipyards and this paper describes the work undertaken in the detail design of the vessel. Chapter 1 describes the essential project requirements, whilst chapter 2 goes into more detail on the actual design of the SWATH vessels. Chapter 3 relates to the construction of the SWATH vessels. AUTHORS’ BIOGRAPHIES seagoing pilot/crewboat with a speed of 33 knots. At Damen he has always been engaged in designing and Rik E Vrugt has a cum laude B.Sc degree in Marine marketing High Speed Craft. Engineering, and started his career with a reputable Dutch naval architect and marine engineering Amongst numerous other projects, he was the Project consultancy firm in 1977, and was involved in the design Manager for cooperation with Bollinger Shipyard Inc. and engineering of numerous special floating equipment using Damen’s design for their successful Coast Guard for the Eastern Scheldt barrier project, various double 82-foot patrol boats, the Barracuda class. ended diesel electric Ro/Ro ferries for different Dutch inland water routes, as well as aluminium catamaran Since 1999 he has been Product Director of Damen’s ferries for abroad. Fast Ferry activities. He founded the maritime consultancy Sovereign Marine In his spare time he sails an International Yngling Class Services NV (SMS) in 1992 and the company operates keelboat and has several positions in the class from Belgium. SMS’ major clients include shipping organisation. companies, government organisations and operators. Ed Dudson graduated from the University of He was Project Manager for the Provinciale Stoomboot Southampton in 1990 and joined Nigel Gee and Diensten (PSD) of the Province of Zeeland on two new Associates the same year where he has worked building projects at the Royal Schelde Yard in Vlissingen continuously, with the exception of a year’s sabbatical at and was also involved in various modifications of older Marintek Sintef Group in Trondheim, Norway. He is ferries. Director of Ship Design and also, the Project Manager on the Damen SWATH for Nigel Gee and Associates Ltd. Furthermore, he was Project Manager during the design Ed Dudson is a Chartered Engineer and Member of the and engineering, construction and delivery of two azipod Royal Institute of Naval Architects. driven diesel electric ice breakers, built in Finland, and three special Ro/Ro paper carriers built in Germany which sail on the Zeebrugge – Gothenburg route. NOMENCLATURE Rik E Vrugt has been involved in the Province of BV Bureau Veritas Zeeland’s passenger and bicycle fast ferry project since DSG Damen Shipyards, Gorinchem, The Netherlands 1998. He was in charge of the contract negotiations with NGA Nigel Gee and Associates Ltd., UK Damen Shipyards. At present, he is the Project Manager SMS Sovereign Marine Services NV, Belgium for the SWATH project on behalf of the Province of PZ Province of Zeeland, The Netherlands Zeeland. PSD Provinciale Stoomboot Diensten, The Netherlands Piet Hein Noordenbos has a B.Sc degree in Naval Architecture and Shipbuilding, and he served in the 1.0 INTRODUCTION Dutch Navy as junior officer on a Mine Sweeper and later joined the design department of the Navy for several The Damen 3717 SWATH is a 37m single strut SWATH years before joining Damen Shipyards. In 1971 he designed to operate between Vlissingen and Breskens in designed Damen’s first high speed craft, the Poly Cat, a the Western Schelde. The vessel has been designed for ease of maintenance and has a diesel electric propulsion When the newly constructed tunnel connecting plant to avoid the necessity of maintenance in the ‘Walcheren’ with ‘Zeeuws Vlaanderen’ comes into floaters. The vessel is constructed from high tensile steel service in March 2003, these PSD Ro/Ro ferry services grade AH36 for the hull and the superstructure is will become redundant. constructed from aluminium alloy. The vessel is classed to Bureau Veritas High Speed Rules, with The Due to the fact that the tunnel is positioned more or less Netherlands Shipping Inspectorate the national authority. in between the existing ferry service routes, in mid-1996 A computer rendering of the vessel can be seen in Figure the Province of Zeeland (PZ) committed themselves to 1. Principal particulars of the vessel are presented in providing a suitable ‘passenger and bicycle fast ferry’ Table 1. service on the Vlissingen – Breskens route which would be operated by a private operator. In mid-2001, the PZ opted to directly procure two SWATH vessels which would give them the possibility of having a bare boat charter for concession periods of six years to a private operator. As a result, a yard pre-selection and evaluation was carried out in accordance with European directives. Tender documents consisting of a tender outline specification and concept contract were made by SMS on behalf of the PZ. This was followed by a tender evaluation at the end of 2001. The contract negotiations with Damen Shipyards (DSG) commenced at the beginning of 2002. This resulted in a final Shipbuilding Contract and Building Specification which were prepared by SMS, in cooperation with DSG, Figure 1 : Computer Rendering and a contract award between the PZ and DSG on March 26, 2002. Length Overall 37.4 m Length Waterline 33.9 m 1.2 PROJECT APPROACH Beam Overall 17.0 m Draught (Design) 4.2 m All parties involved had already realised during the Displacement (Design) 400.0 tonnes contract negotiation phase that this SWATH project Deadweight (Design) 37.0 tonnes would be a unique one and a highly demanding Main Engines 2 x MTU 12V4000 challenge. In addition, as of today, there are no other 2 x 1560 kW similar SWATH vessels presently in operation Propulsion Motors 4 x INDAR 660 kW worldwide which have to comply with the same Maximum Speed 16.5 knots operational demands, severe weather conditions and a Service Speed 14.5 knots number of very important and stringent requirements. Maximum Wave Height 2.5 m Therefore, it was agreed by all parties to make this a joint project, incorporating each others knowledge and Table 1 : Principal Particulars experience to the full extent. To date, this rather unique approach has already resulted 1.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND in a fruitful and efficient cooperation and joint team effort between Damen Shipyards with their consultant The PSD have been carrying out ferry services on the Nigel Gee and Associates on the one side and Sovereign Western Scheldt since around 1850. Today’s Ro/Ro Marine Services on the other. ferries operate on two different routes, Vlissingen – Breskens and Kruiningen – Perkpolder. 1.3 PRINCIPAL REASONS FOR SELECTING In mid-1996, the Dutch Government in The Hague took A SWATH DESIGN VESSEL the decision to build a tunnel under the Western Scheldt known as the ‘Westerschelde Oever Verbinding’ (WOV) In 1992, MARDOC, a naval architect and marine project. engineering consultancy firm in The Netherlands had already carried out a dedicated study for the PZ on the different design possibilities for smaller ferries on the The SWATH vessels will be designed for a maximum specific route Vlissingen – Breskens. number of 7,000 operational hours on an annual basis with a total lifetime of 30 years. In order to prevent seasickness, the limitation of the vertical accelerations was considered as being the main The Western Scheldt river is the approach to several reason for selecting small type vessels of the SWATH major ports in Southern Holland and to the Port of design suitable for the safe and comfortable transport of Antwerp. It is used by many seagoing as well as inland passengers. vessels. The Western Scheldt is an estuary with strong tidal currents, many sandbanks and shallow water areas. It was concluded that with the wind, tidal and wave conditions, and the significant wave height for Beaufort 9 conditions in this part of the Western Scheldt, a small 1.5 CONDITIONS OF THE PROVINCE OF single hull vessel of approx. 50 m length would not be ZEELAND able to comply with the vertical accelerations limits. The same applied to catamaran type vessels. Since the award of contract, PZ is no longer involved in the day to day activities of the project, having appointed In order to build up confidence amongst passengers and SMS to deal with all matters on their behalf. without compromising the design philosophy and operational requirements, it is of the utmost importance However, PZ has laid down certain conditions which that passengers do not become seasick during crossings should remain in force for the entire duration of the in bad weather conditions. Seasickness could result in a project. These are : negative opinion of the new operator and could also possibly jeopardize the project’s existence. • The project has to fulfil the requirements of the Contract and the Building Specification. 1.4 PRIMARY SERVICE REQUIREMENTS • The scheduled delivery times of the SWATH vessels have to be met. Delivery of the first vessel is The SWATH vessels have to be designed and scheduled to be delivered on December 31, 2003 constructed for an all year round service taking and the second vessel on February 28,2004. passengers and bicycles on the Vlissingen – Breskens route. The different route possibilities are shown in • The project has to remain within the budget. Figure 2. 1.6 DESIGN PHILOSOPHY AND OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS To summarize, PZ’s design philosophy with its operational requirements is as follows : • To provide maximum safety of the passengers and crew.