SHIPYARD NEWS

High-tech Nordlicht II is readied for GTL

5 years ago

German Bight ferry operator AG Ems is taking a new high-tech catamaran ferry into service soon which will be capable of GTL operation, writes Tom Todd.

Singapore-built fast cat is due for operation soon.

The new 46.8 m loa and11m wide newbuild has been built by the Penguin Shipyard in Singapore and is the first high speed craft built for the German shipowner from that shipyard.

AG Ems told Maritime Journal complete dimensional details of the ship were not yet avaiable. However its name – Nordlicht II – is now known and so too is its propulsion system.

It will be equipped with two “highly efficient” 2,960kW MAN Type 175 D engines, say the German owners. It will be suitable for operation with eco-friendly synthetic GTL fuel and will develop 35 knots on the daily service by AG Ems subisidiary Cassel Eils between Cuxhaven and Helgoland. A total 450 seats will be available below deck on two levels and a further 50 on the open sundeck.

AG Ems said that following final sea trials in Singapore, the newbuilding was being transported on a multi-purpose vessel to Emden where it was due to arrive in the second half of June. Plans are to put it into service in early July.

One of the features of the Nordlicht II is a modern motion dampening system to improve passenger comfort. The same system was being retrofitted on the more than 30 year old smaller namesake Nordlicht so that both ships can be interchanged when needed on services to Helgoland and the Frisian island of Borkum.

No details of the motion dampening system were initially revealed. Its three-day installation on the old Nordlicht was being carried out at Abeking & Rasmussen in May. Delayed by Covid-motivated supply hold-ups, it follows the completion of ship-side structural alterations during a routine yard stay in March.

When built Nordlicht was described by AG Ems as its first high-tech catamaran. Main engines are two16-cylinder, four-stroke Type 4000 MTU diesels which develop 35 knots.

The ship’s original two 63-S62/6 KaMeWa water jets were replaced in 2017 by fourth generation mixed flowType S63-4 KaMeWa units from Rolls Royce. Work and units cost about half a million Euros and at the time AG Ems described the replacement at the specialist Fassmer shipyard as a “logistical masterpiece”.