For the ferry service between Den Helder (NL) and North Sea island Texel,
a new ferry is under construction. Except for its CNG-propulsion system, »Texelstroom« has some additional innovations on offer.
The new vessel is still at the LaNaval shipyard in Sestao, Spain, waiting for completion. For delivery it will then[ds_preview] sail to the Netherlands on its own keel to be operated by TESO, Texels Eigen Stoomboot Onderneming, who services the route since 1907.
The new TESO ferry has a length of 135.4m, a width of 27.9m and a draft of 4.4m at full load. It carries 1,750 passengers and 350 cars, 10% more vehicles than its predecessor »Dokter Wagemaker«. »Texelstroom« features two car decks, one bicycle deck and one saloondeck.Four ABC engines – 2x 2,081 kW dual-fuel and 2x 2,131 kW diesel – provide the ship with a maximum speed of 15.4kn. The vessel is equipped with four Rolls-Royce azimuth thrusters with 1,800 kW of power each.
The double ended ferry hast two wheelhouses as well as two engine rooms. Corvus delivered the battery packs with an over-all capacity of 1,500 kW. They will serve as an assistance, during mooring operations, »shaving« the peaks in engine load. »Due to the peakshaving of the battery packs only one engine is required for the vessel during mooring operations resulting in more efficient motor usage«, Wietse Bandstra, Marketing & Sales Manager of designer C-Job says. The batteries will be recharged during loading and unloading operations. »On our current ferry ›Dokter Wagemaker‹ there are always two engines of 2,700 kW in use. This new system will save us maintenance costs and the rotating motor will be working to capacity«, Bert de Jonge, Project Manager Newbuilding at TESO, explains.
The propulsion system does not use LNG but compressed natural gas (CNG). CNG-Net will compress the Dutch gas to 200 bar at a facility at Texel, from where it then will be transferred onto the ship via a bunkering arm. On board the gas is stored in two containers with a capacity of 15,000 standard cubic meters. For the operation of the ABC engines the gas will be decompressed on board slightly below atmospheric pressure, before being sucked into the combustion chambers. About 7% diesel fuel will be needed for ignition. The gas stored on board will last for one and a half days of operation, de Jonge explains. Every night the ship will be refuelled for five hours. In case the supply chain does not work for some reason, the vessel can operate on diesel fuel.
Because the new ferry will be deployed in the UNESCO world heritage natural site »Waddenzee«, the requirements for efficient and environmentally friendly technologies were quite strict. »70% of the energy usage is for the propulsion. The other 30% is for the hotel function, of which the ventilation of the car decks is the biggest consumer. In the design, C-Job made ventilation in the sailing direction possible where the air is sucked onboard at the front side of the vessel. After the CFD analysis, the results show that the usage of the fans could be reduced by 50% compared to the previous vessel«, Bansdtra says. 700m2 of solar panels delivered by Bikote Solar were installed. On sunny days they can cover up to one third of the vessels energy consumption in the passenger and gastronomic areas. The use of grey water for the toilets will save up to 70% of fresh water, compared to conventional vessels.
Also below new technologies have been applied. For the hull a hard underwater paint from International Paint was used, instead of a toxic anti-fouling coating. While the ship is at berth at night, Ned Marine Service’s ultrasonic sensors, which are mounted to the jetty will prevent fouling.
»Texelstroom« was designed by C-Job Naval Architects in cooperation with TESO. »Innovative design aspects are the optimized load balance, capacity increase within the restrictions of bollard pull, mooring quay and lateral area and the engineering of the structure in way of the windows at the saloondeck«, Bandstra comments. The static wind pressure generated at 60 kn is around 100t for the current ferry »Dokter Wagemaker«. As »Texelstroom« is extended by 5m, pressure needed to be reduced. »This was done by recessed wheelhouses and technical spaces and by chamfering the front and aft. Vripack and Oliver Design were responsible for the interior and styling of the vessel. The flamboyant windows were delivered by Wigo, Record supplied the automatic doors. The electric installations and the automation system were done by Ingeteam, de Haan Hoogezand built the vessel’s ventilation and heating system. Lloyd’s Register will classify the ferry.
Currently »Dokter Wagemaker« is the ferry on duty, while »Schulpengat« serves as backup for times of high passenger traffic or maintenance of »Dokter Wagemaker«. When »Texelstroom« enters service, »Dokter Wagemaker« will be the backup ship. At the end of 2016, »Schulpengat« will be sold or scrapped.The new ferry costs between 55 and 58mill. €. The contract was signed in 2014. On 30. July »Texelstroom« was launched, delivery is scheduled for spring 2016.
Felix Selzer
