1 0 9 “Our shareholders are still the farmers who first founded Brittany Ferries. We are incredibly lucky to have such patient, far-sighted and long-term owners. They’re focused on the bigger picture, rather than short-term returns. In a different company we might have had to wait until these technologies were more commonplace and their cost had declined, but by then it would be too late. “This generation of ferries would have been built, and in service for years with more polluting technology. We’re lucky to work in a company and a culture where this kind of vision gets the investment it needs.” Around the coast, the Irish Sea’s Isle of Man Steam Packet Company (IOMSPC) celebrated the keel laying for its new ro-pax Manxman at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in Ulsan, South Korea on 24 December 2021. Costing £78 million ($102.2 million) , Manxman is slated for delivery for the Douglas-Heysham service in spring 2023. The new ship will carry 949 passengers and have space for 4,950 square metres of freight and vehicles. Wärtsilä is supplying a range of power solutions for the dieselelectric/battery hybrid vessel, working closely with IOMSPC to develop a customised integrated solution based on its operating profile and customerspecific requirements. Scope of supply to Manxman includes four Wärtsilä 31 main engines, two eight-cylinder units and two 10-cylinder versions, the energy battery storage system, propulsion machinery, and electrical and automation systems, including the Finnish specialist’s Low Loss Concept. Guangzhou Shipyard International launched the first of the two 47,394gt double-ended ferries for P&O Ferries on 2 January 2022. The 230-metre vessel is the largest double-ended ferry ever built, as well as P&O Ferries’ biggest vessel to date for its flagship Dover-Calais service. The two diesel-electric, battery hybrid ferries were ordered in October 2019 at a cost of £130 million ($170.5 million) each, with an option for a further two vessels. Finland’s ABB is supplying the hybrid propulsion system to the pair, using electric power from an 8.8-megawatt battery pack and diesel generators. The vessels will use battery power when arriving and departing ports. A total of four 7.5-megawatt Azipod propulsion units, two at each end, will propel each ferry, giving exceptional manoeuvrability. Such a system is expected to reduce fuel consumption by 40 per cent. Wärtsilä will provide four 16-cylinder Wärtsilä 31s diesel engines. The new vessels are designed for carbon neutral sailings in the future on battery power alone once charging systems are installed ashore in the ports of Dover and Calais. The delivery dates for the first two are April and November 2023. Viking Lines’ new Viking Glory completed her five-week journey from Xiamen, China, to the port of Turku, Finland, on 6 February. She is the first cruise ferry in the world that uses ABB’s Azipod electric propulsion. After fitout over a period of three weeks the new vessel A view of the navigational bridge onboard Brittany Ferries’ Salamanca Photo: Brittany Ferries
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