FAST FERRY DESCRIPTION | 17
more economically sustainable. We have achieved very good fuel efficiencies from their designs.” He said that when the company started in 2008 it replaced a service operated by the government and found that compared to the previous service it was burning 30% less fuel. The catamaran hull and superstructure of Ocean Adventurer is constructed from marine grade aluminium. Passenger access is via two double gangways at the main passenger level. Both main and upper decks include indoor and outdoor seating. Toilets, kiosk and bike racks are located on the main passenger deck. Internal stairs provide access from the main deck to the upper deck, which includes passenger areas and the wheelhouse. The main engines consist of two MAN D2862 LE463 diesel engines rated to 1,029 BkW at 2,100 rpm, with two twin disc Quickshift MGX6620 gearboxes deployed. Two fixed-pitch five-bladed propellers are in use. The electrical system is composed of 240/415 v AC supplied by two Cat C4.4 diesel generators, one located in each hull. Passenger comfort was important and to this end, Incat said a ride control system has been installed consisting of a pair of active Humphree interceptors fitted at the vessel’s transom, and controlled by an electronic control package. Split system air conditioning has been installed for the bridge and passenger area. Incat chief executive Robert Clifford told Passenger Ship Technology there had been significant increases in the efficiency of the main engines in the latest five vessels Incat has built for My Fast Ferry as the latest engine types had been used, which included electronic fuel control. He added “They are designed for Sydney Harbour, and we kept them as light as possible. “They are very practical on that route, and are virtually taking over from large, older-style ferries.” This is because they are so frequent and more efficient. “They can do so much more in the same amount of time.” Mr Ford said a major consideration was being able to load and unload quickly. He expanded “We had to design to Sydney wharf infrastructure to have minimum load and unload times. We looked at how to load and unload 400 passengers as quickly as possible with the infrastructure, as it is no good travelling very fast if takes five to 10 minutes to unload.” Therefore, two doors with four gateways were each located on the wharf so that the ferry can load and unload very quickly around the infrastructure. “This means that we are quicker without having to travel faster and it keeps horsepower down and therefore the weight of the engines down. Weight equals fuel,” Mr Ford said. Another important factor was to make sure
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My Fast Ferry vessels have been specifically designed for the Sydney Harbour routes that they take
GENERAL PARTICULARS Builder: Incat Tasmania Pty Designer: One2three Naval Architects Class: DNV GL Flag: Australian Code: NSCV Class 1C and 1D Speed: 24.9 knots Length (oa): 34.14 m Beam (oa): 9.00 m Draught (hull): 1.36 m Passengers: 396 Crew: four Fuel: 2 x 2,500 litres Fresh water: 1,000 litres Sullage: 2,780 litres
“Our fleet is standardised to keep the spares register to a minimum” Richard Ford (My Fast Ferry)
the vessel was as reliable as possible. To this end, the vessel was designed so that an engine with a problem could be replaced within a day. Mr Ford explained “We can fix an engine on the vessel if it is something minor. But if there is a major issue that might take more than a day it is quicker for us to take the engine out and put a replacement engine in while we do maintenance so that the vessel can keep going.” Therefore, engineroom access and connections and gearboxes were made to ensure it is as “easy and quick as possible to get engines out”. This is the same across the fleet, which has been standardised as much as possible. Mr Ford added “Our fleet is standardised to keep the spares register to a minimum.” He added “We use locally made and sourced parts – this is important because if things break we did not want exotic or unique things that we could not replace. We very much use standard equipment that can be replaced easily.” Mr Ford highlighted the quality of the build overall. “The ferry is in operation for 16 hours a day. There are multiple wharf stoppings every 20 minutes, so we want the boat to last a long time.” PST
Passenger Ship Technology | 4th Quarter 2018