Green light for FastShip

FastShip Inc looks a step nearer to realising its goals with the announcement that it has signed a letter of intent with the USA’s National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (Nassco) for the construction of the first four high-speed cargo vessels for its trans-Atlantic fleet.

The San Diego-based yard has a track record of building roro vessels and gas turbine powered ships. The 262m long newbuildings will each be fitted with five gas turbines for speeds of 40 knots.

FastShip is hoping to transform the face of trans-Atlantic freight transportation by creating a seven-day, door-to door North Atlantic network linking the middle of Europe to the middle of the USA. This service will be made possible, says FastShip, through the use of high-speed, gas turbine powered vessels, described by the company as ‘a quantum leap in hull design, and propulsion systems’. The success of the service will also be reliant upon the loading/unloading system, developed by TTS Technology, and the dedicated terminal.

Trials of the service are scheduled to start in the second half of 2002, with actual commercial operations beginning in early 2003.