[ 121 ] ONBOARD restaurant atmosphere. Freshly prepared food comes directly from the adjacent main galley as drivers help themselves from a buffet counter. Some 150 drivers can be seated here and to guarantee a smooth flow and reduce the queues there is a separate island with coffee machines, soft drink fountains and extra tills. Sanitary facilities comprise 20 male and four female shower cubicles with a screen in the restaurant area showing in real time which cubicles are occupied and which are vacant, further evidenced by a red and green light above the shower door. Each shower comes with a bench and hooks for personal belongings. While the drivers can recharge in the dining and shower areas, they asked for a separate lounge to truly relax. The plush 128-seat Commercial Drivers’ Lounge is a great improvement over the Spirit-class. No longer integrated into the restaurant, it’s a haven of tranquillity with different types of seats, including reclining chairs, chaises longues and even couchettes with drawers to store personal belongings. The exclusive outer promenade and sun deck with smoking zone can also be accessed from the lounge. MAXIMISING TRUCK INTAKE The unique aspect of the Spirit-class ships was their ability to easily manage freight. The total freight capacity of 2,741 lanemetres on two decks, supplemented by 1,000 car lanemetres on a 3.3m high standalone car deck, made Spirit of Britain and Spirit of France the most capacious ferries ever to operate out of Dover. Especially on a short route like Dover–Calais, it is paramount to find the right balance between lanemetre intake and port turnaround — it makes no sense to operate a juggernaut if it cannot be turned around in under 60 minutes. As ferries are part of the supply chain, short port turnarounds with fast unloading and loading are key. Ships are meant to sail, so a further increase of freight capacity would have come at the expense of time spent in port. As the 2,741-lanemetre cargo intake of the Spirits was deemed optimal, it was rather a matter of maximising and further optimising freight vehicle capacity within the same hull dimensions envelope. This has been achieved in the Fusion-class ships by increasing the free deck height of the uppermost car deck to 3.6m, allowing for campers and vans to be parked there, freeing up freight space on decks 3 and 5. To speed up unloading/loading operations, the fixed ramps that lead to Deck 7 are wider and shallower than on the Spirits, being surfaced with Bimagrip anti-slip coating rather than tightly spaced herringbone bars. When entering Deck 7 on the Spirits, drivers automatically slowed down due to the contrast in lighting. Every minute counts, so to avoid a slowdown during loading extra LED lighting has been installed on the vehicle decks. With an overall length of 230.5m, the Fusion-class is about one truck length longer than the Spirit-class, a necessary refinement to compensate for the loss in lanemetres on account of the double bow inherent in double-ender design. P&O Pioneer has a freight capacity of 2,592 lanemetres, only marginally lower than the Spirits while the Deck 7 car lanemetre capacity is 1,066m.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzQ1NTk=