Marine Log - August 2007 - (Page 22) SHORT SEA SHIPPING haul, high-speed Roll-on/Roll-off passenger and freight (ROPAX) services along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts. He pointed to well developed passenger and freight sea routes in Europe where over 450 million passengers, 100 million cars, and 22 million trucks were transported on ferries in 2005. “The important drivers of high European ferry demand—congested roads, high fuel prices, tolls and road taxes, hours of service limitations for truck drivers, driver shortages and increasing highway safety concerns—exist in the U.S. today,” aais Flott. “The principal difference between existing ROPAX ferry operations in Europe and prospective ROPAX ferry services in the U.S. is that here such services have to compete directly with the highway system because virtually all freight and people moving in the continental United States can reach their destinations without, save for a bridge or tunnel, crossing any body of water.” SeaBridge announced that it has retained investment banker Jefferies & Company, Inc., as its exclusive financial advisor to assist the company in pursu- ICE CLASS TANKERS The SeaBridge pentamaran underwent ship model tests at MARINTEK/Sintef ing financing for deployment of its innovative ships. Mark A. Cleveland, SeaBridge president and CEO, said, “The strength of our plan to introduce more efficient ships to create marine highways is greatly reinforced by this endorsement from Jefferies, and working together, we believe coastal ferry transportation will no longer be the only ‘missing mode’ of transportation in America.” SeaBridge is basing its high-speed, long-haul service on a pentamaran style ROPAX. A pentamaran is a slender monohull stabilized by four sponsons, two on the port side and two and the starboard side. In March 2005, Chad Hawkins of BMT Designers and Planners made a presentation by Nigel Gee, Managing Director of BMT Nigel Gee and Associates Ltd. called “Applications of the Pentamaran Hull Form for Fast Sealift and Freight Applications,” to the National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) outlining the benefits and advantages of the pentamaran hull for short sea shipping. According to the Nigel Gee presentation, the main hull is optimized for minimum speed resistance for a specified deadweight and speed. The sponsons are designed and positioned to give the desired stability characteristics. The use of the four slender sponsons instead of two, such as in the case of the trimaran provides enhanced stability at minimum drag and immunity from parametric rolling. The aft sponsons only enter the water in full load upright conditions. The pentamaran provides the lowest possible resistance and powering and has excellent seakeeping. The Seabridge pentamaran would have an overall length of 300m, beam of 45m (main hull beam of 23.4m) and deadweight tonnage of 6,500. Propulsion will be supplied by four medium-speed heavy fuel diesel engines with waterjets. Projected speed would be 42 knots. ML 22 MARINE LOG AUGUST 2007 www.marinelog.com http://www.marinelog.com
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