At Remontowa Shiprepair Yard a Ro-Pax for Polsteam was launched
The launch of the first ferry for Polsteam took place at Remontowa Shiprepair Yard in Gdansk. The vessel will be equipped in the following months, and the ferry will undergo sea trials. She will be delivered to the shipowner at the beginning of 2025.
– The entire hull, weighing 11,000 tonnes, is already integrated and equipped with, among other things, engines, cryogenic tanks for LNG, propellers, bow thrusters, and anchor windlass-mooring winches. It has been launched by submerging the dock until the ferry reaches buoyancy. The superstructure blocks will be integrated into the hull once it is afloat. In the following months, further outfitting will be carried out until the sea trial programme of the finished ferry takes place and the ferry is handed over, which is expected to be in 2025, reported Grzegorz Landowski, communications director at Remontowa Holding.
The contract for building the Ro-Pax ferries was signed in November 2021. The vessels were ordered by the Polskie Promy (Polish Ferries) company, whose shareholders are the State Treasury and the Polish Steamship Company (Polsteam). As part of the contract, Remontowa Shiprepair Yard S.A is building three ferries, two of which will sail under the colours of Unity Line, a subsidiary of Polsteam, and one will be for another Polish operator – Polferries. A letter of intent, including an option to build a fourth ferry, is part of the contract.
The contract carried out by Remontowa Shiprepair Yard is a new edition of the newbuilding programme called ‘Batory’. The Gryfia Shiprepair Yard in Szczecin was earlier involved in the project. On 23 June 2017, construction began on the Wulkan slipway in the Szczecin Industrial Park. Unfortunately, it began and ended with laying the keel, and the project was abandoned. It was not until five years later that the construction of ferries for Polish shipowners was resumed. This time, the task was entrusted to Remontowa in Gdańsk.
The ferry is 195.6 m long and 32.2 m wide. The length of the cargo line is 4100 m, and the speed max. 19 knots. The ferry will be able to accommodate 400 passengers and 50 crew. The conceptual and technical design, as the workshop documentation, were prepared by Remontowa Marine Design from the Remontowa Holding group.
The next ferry in the series is already under construction. The first steel cutting for the second Ro-Pax took place on March 28, 2023.
The ferries under construction at Remontowa are some of the Baltic Sea’s most modern, low-emission Ro-Pax vessels. Each will be powered by four liquefied natural gas (LNG) engines with a battery assistance hybrid system. Instead of conventional shafts and propellers, each ferry will have two azimuth thrusters at the stern and bow thrusters at the bow, allowing the ferries to manoeuvre in ports without tugs.
Photos: Sławomir Lewandowski and Maciej Bielesz/ PortalMorski.pl
