[ 15 ] berth. It wasn’t until early 2018 that a doubleender design came out as the obvious choice. The initial concept called for a double-ender with a single central bridge rather than two bridges, i.e. one on either end. Doubleenders are very popular on short routes, for instance in the Norwegian fjords, and the smaller iterations typically boast a single central bridge. This solution was deemed impractical for ships the length of the Fusionclass, offering poor sightlines to the bows. Thanks to the double-ender principle, making 180-degree turns in port would become something of the past. On the Dover–Calais route, the single-ender ferries typically berth stern-to at Dover and bow-in at Calais. Westbound, this requires two 180-degree manoeuvres; reversing out of the berth in Calais and then reversing into a berth in Dover. These manoeuvres are time-consuming as well as causing an obstruction to incoming and outgoing traffic. For the Spirit-class pair, the off-berth manoeuvring time relative to Calais–Dover crossings adds about 15 minutes to the overall berth-to-berth crossing times. To compensate for the lost time, ferries need to increase their speed considerably to adhere to the advertised 90-minute berth-to-berth crossing times. Our ships make three double runs during the day and another two during the night. The daytime schedule typically spans 13.5 hours, equivalent to 810 minutes. Benchmarking against a single-ender, the double-ender solution clearly demonstrated that fuel savings were significant. Based on 40-minute turnarounds, a single-ender needed to increase its speed to 19.1 knots for a good part of the crossing as opposed to a 15.6-knot maximum speed for a doubleended ferry. When simulating a 12-hour daytime schedule, reducing port times to 30 minutes, the speed of a single-ender increases to 21.5 knots while the maximum speed for a double-ender doesn’t exceed 17.1 knots. PRIDE OF DOVER PRIDE OF CANTERBURY SPIRIT OF BRITAIN P&O PIONEER Ship class Chunnel Beater Darwin-class Spirit-class Fusion-class Year of build 1987 1991/2003 2011 2023 Length o.a. 169.6m 179.7m 212.9m 230.5m Beam 27.8m 27.8m 30.8m 30.8m Draft 6.1m 6.0m 6.7m 6.7m Gross tonnage 26,433 30,635 47,592 47,653 tDW 4,261t 5,102t 9,188t 9,988.9t Passengers 2,300 2,000 2,000 1,437 Freight lane m. 1,545m 1,925m 2,741m 2,592m Car lane m. Deck 7 N/A N/A 1,000m 1,066m Service speed 22 knots 21 knots 22 knots 17.6 knots Fuel consumption 16k tonnes/year 17.5k tonnes/year 23k tonnes/year 14k tonnes/year Four generations of Dover–Calais ferries “ The initial concept called for a doubleender with a single central bridge rather than two bridges, i.e. one on either end” SHIPBUILDING Pride of Canterbury Pride of Dover Spirit of Britain P&O Pioneer
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