Damen to supply five coastal ferries to Zanzibar Government
Damen Shipyards has signed a contract with the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications & Transport of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar for the supply of five inshore ferries to carry tourists visiting Pemba Island and others nearby in the Zanzibar Archipelago, the company said in its release.
Delivery is scheduled for July 2020, when they will begin contributing to the economic development of the semi-autonomous region. The contract is for three vessels of the Damen Ferry 804 design and two of the Damen Ferry 1204 design, together with a spare parts package for the first year of operation and on-site training in operating and maintaining the vessels.
Eight metres and twelve metres in length respectively, they are new variants in Damen’s small ferry range, capable of carrying 30 and 70 people on benches on an open, self-draining deck with full length awnings. The hulls are welded aluminium. As part of the brief to deliver easy to maintain vessels, the propulsion systems are single waterjets powered by four-stroke, four- cylinder diesel engines with enclosed cooling systems giving an operational speed of around five knots for both types.
Intended to be capable of fulfilling duties additional to that of transporting tourists and their luggage, Damen has included benches and both types feature bow ramps to allow easy unloading / disembarkation directly on to the sand beaches that are common around the islands. This procedure is further facilitated by the waterjet propulsion systems that, with stainless steel pumps, are well suited for operations in water with high concentrations of sand and silt. The ferries are being built at Damen Shipyards Hardinxveld in the Netherlands, to international standards of both construction and safety.
“We are very pleased to be continuing our strong relationship with the government of Zanzibar,” says Paul van der Werf, Damen Area Service Director Africa. “We recently delivered a new Damen Double Hull Oil Tanker 3500, together with a long-term service agreement and training package, and we are confident that these new inshore ferries will provide years of service supporting the local tourism industry. We have designed them to be ideal for light passenger traffic in warm, protected waters anywhere in the world, particularly in remote locations where support may not be immediately available.”
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.
