Damen Road Ferry 6819 E3 launched at Damen Shipyards Galati
On the 14th of November the Amherst Islander II, a Damen Road Ferry 6819 E3, was launched at Damen Shipyards Galati in Romania. The ceremony was attended by representatives of the owner, the Ministry of Transportation Ontario, Canada, as well as Damen personnel.
The Amherst Islander II is part of a two vessel order that Damen will deliver to the Ministry of Transportation Ontario. The E3 ferries will be the first passenger/car ferries in North America with the ability to operate fully electric and will reduce the amount of emissions by the equivalent of 7 million kg of carbon dioxide each year.
With an overall length of close to 72 metres and a loading capacity of up to 42 cars, the Amherst Islander II is the smaller of the two. The larger 99 metre Damen Road Ferry 9819 E3, the Wolfe Islander IV, is currently under construction in the dry docks and will be launched mid-2020.
Damen sales manager Leo Postma said, “Successfully achieving this important milestone in a complex project like this can only be achieved in close cooperation between the client and the shipyard. We are truly proud to be working on these future-proof vessels, and are eagerly looking forward to seeing this vessel arrive in Ontario, Canada.”
Both ferries will operate solely on the Lake Ontario in between Amherst- and Wolfe Island.
Damen Shipyards Group
Damen Shipyards Group operates 36 shipbuilding and repair yards, employing 12,000 people worldwide. Damen has delivered more than 6,500 vessels in more than 100 countries and delivers around 175 vessels annually to customers worldwide. Based on its unique, standardised ship-design concept Damen is able to guarantee consistent quality.
Damen’s focus on standardisation, modular construction and keeping vessels in stock leads to short delivery times, low ‘total cost of ownership’, high resale values and reliable performance. Furthermore, Damen vessels are based on thorough R&D and proven technology.
Damen offers a wide range of products, including tugs, workboats, naval and patrol vessels, high speed craft, cargo vessels, dredgers, vessels for the offshore industry, ferries, pontoons and superyachts.
For nearly all vessel types Damen offers a broad range of services, including maintenance, spare parts delivery, training and the transfer of (shipbuilding) know-how. Damen also offers a variety of marine components, such as nozzles, rudders, winches, anchors, anchor chains and steel works.
Damen Shiprepair & Conversion (DSC) has a worldwide network of eighteen repair and conversion yards of which twelve are located in North West Europe. Facilities at the yards include more than 50 floating (and covered) drydocks, including the longest, 420 x 80 metres, and the widest, 405 x 90 metres, as well as slopes, ship lifts and indoor halls. Projects range from the smallest simple repairs through Class’ maintenance to complex refits and the complete conversion of large offshore structures. DSC completes around 1,300 repair and maintenance jobs annually, both at yards as well as in ports and during voyage.
