Damen Shipyards Group has signed a contract with South Korea’s Starline Co. Ltd. for delivery of a Damen Fast Ferry 4212, available from stock at Damen’s Song Cam shipyard in Vietnam, according to the company's release.
The company expects delivery just seven weeks after contract signing on 12 May 2025.
Starline will deploy the 42.2‑metre aluminium catamaran — capable of carrying up to 439 passengers at speeds up to 40 knots — on the route between Busan (South Korea) and Tsushima (Japan).
The vessel replaces Starline’s Fast Ferry 4010 and is better suited to the harsh, open‑sea conditions encountered on that route.
Damen’s stock‑building strategy, under which standard vessels are built in series and outfitted ahead of purchase, reduced the delivery time from a typical six months to just a few weeks.
Damen has sold eighteen Fast Ferry 4212 vessels to date, including six to South Korea, and expects to make only minor customisations before final handover.
Damen Shipyards Group is a family‑owned shipbuilding company headquartered in Gorinchem. It specialises in modular shipbuilding and standardised vessel designs, enabling fast delivery cycles. With a global network of shipyards and a wide portfolio of vessels—including tugs, cargo ships, ferries and naval vessels—the company implements a stock‑building strategy to deliver repeatedly ordered designs rapidly. It also offers in‑house brokerage (Damen Trading) and after‑sales services.
Starline is a Korean maritime operator specialising in high‑speed passenger ferry services, operating routes such as the Busan–Tsushima connection between South Korea and Japan.