The Danube’ s two ship Twin City Liner catamaran link between the Austrian capital Vienna and downstream Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, is developing into more than just a pleasure boat trip.
After the delivery of the second 33.7m catamaran by Norwegian shipyard Batservice Mandal, Austrian President Heinz Fischer used it as a bridge building exercise for an official state visit to Bratislava. Fischer said the expansion of the service was ‘important because it takes into account the close ties between the two countries’.
Not only that. The 60 km run takes just 75 minutes, a time impossible for rival rail or road services to match. That is reflected in the number of passengers already choosing the service. Between 2006, when the first boat went into service, and this year, some 200,000 people used the link.
Owned by Mobix Vermögensverwaltung and operated by the Central Danube Region Marketing and Development in Vienna, the cats operate up to ten times daily. Light aluminium high speed vessels with jet propulsion and low draft, they are ‘the perfect solution’ say their operators, for the often shallow waters of the Danube.
Spokesman Dieter Pietschmann told MJ the aluminium hulled cats were now virtually identical following retrofits on the first between 2007 and 2008. They are 8.5m wide and 5.9m high, draw a maximum 85cm and weigh 57 tons. Propulsion is by a pair of MTU diesels and two Hamilton water jets producing a combined 1,440 kW. The water jets generate a turbo effect and provide speeds of up to 37 knots. However, the operators said that in order to minimise wash and noise and operate economically, cruising speed averaged out at about 60 km/h.
Both cats carry just over 100 passengers. They boast full air conditioning, luxury first-class seating, info-flatscreens, panoramic windows and a lookout deck.
