The Port of Tallinn has signed contracts with Remontowa Shipbuilding and Sefine Shipyard shipbuilding facilities for the construction of four new car-passenger ferry boats to be used on the lines between the mainland and major Estonian islands; two ferries are to be built by each shipbuilding facility.
The four new ferry boats, designed by the Norwegian company LMG Marin, will be constructed in the shipbuilding yards located in Gdánsk, Poland and Altinova, Turkey. The ferries are to be 114 meters in length with accommodation for 150 cars or 10 road trains, with 600 passenger seats equipped with life-saving devices.
“The concluded contracts provide assurance to Estonian people that high-quality connection on the lines between the mainland and the islands by means of the new ferries conforming to contemporary requirements will be guaranteed starting with the autumn of 2016,” said Remo Holsmer, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of AS Tallinna Sadam.
All four diesel engine ferries have been designed so that the main engines of the ships can in the future be replaced for engines running on liquefied natural gas (LNG) provided that the necessary infrastructure is in place.
According to Holsmer, before the contracts were concluded, the representatives of Tallinna Sadam and the LMG Marin engineering company introduced the design and technical parameters of the ferries to AS Saarte Liinid, the administrator of Kuivastu, Rohuküla, Virtsu and Heltermaa harbors. The company confirmed that the ships were suitable for operation in the existing infrastructure and no additional investments would be necessary for their servicing in the harbors.
"We are pleased to enter into the partnership with the Port of Tallinn for delivering the two car-passenger ferries in 2016," said Jan Paszkowski, Member of the Management Board of Remontowa Shipbuilding. “In recent years, there has been a continuous demand for similar vessels, especially in Northern European seas, and we are looking forward to committing our expertise in this field to the ferries designed for Estonian waters.”
The General Coordinator of Sefine Shipyard, Akin Tuzcuoglu, said, "We look forward to continuing our previous cooperation with LMG Marin from building four comparable vessels for a Norwegian operator to building the two ferries for the Port of Tallinn, to be delivered in 2016."
