Freight duo enter North Sea service

The first of a pair of 20,000 gross roro freight ferries was delivered in July to Bore by Aker Finnyard.

Both Norsky and sistership Norstream, to be delivered in October, are being chartered from Finnish owner Oy Rettig ab Bore by P&O North Sea Ferries for service on its Zeebrugge Teesport (Middlesbrough) UK route, increasing capacity on the route by 35 per cent.

The new vessels have a capacity of 2,630 lane metres, representing 210 trailers, arranged over three freight decks, connected by fixed internal ramps. The upper (weather), deck has 1,130 lane metres, including 62m on the fixed access ramp; the main deck 1,040m, and the lower hold (tanktop), 460m. A free height of 7m is provided on the main deck, which will allow for the carriage of a further 80 x 12m containers as double stacked units. The tanktop, and under the raised superstructure of the weatherdeck each have a free height of 5m.

The main deck and tanktop are designed to carry roro cargo, and a mix of roro and containers can be accommodated on the upper deck. Additionally, the main deck and upper deck are equipped to carry dangerous goods, as well as having a total of 80 reefer container sockets available.

The cargo access equipment has been supplied by MacGregor, and comprises a pair of hydraulically operated stern ramps which are 16m long (including 3m flaps). The wider starboard ramp serves the main deck, providing a driveway which is 11.51m at the shore end, widening to just under 13.5m at the ship?s threshold. The narrower port side ramp has a shore end driveway width of 4.32m, widening to 6.17m. This ramp leads directly to the fixed ramp accessing the upper (weather) deck.

Access from the main deck to the lower hold is provided by fixed ramp starting aft on the starboard side. This ramp has a watertight two-panel side-hinged cover, 48m long by 5,8m wide, operated by hydraulic cylinders, which closes over the opening. Both internal fixed ramps are approx 70m long, with a 7 deg inclination, reducing to 3.5 deg at the top end.

Main propulsion is provided by two Wartsila 9L46C main engines, each with an output of 9,450kW (12,668 bhp) at 500 rev/min. Each engine drives a Kamewa stainless steel CP propeller through a 3:1 Valmet reduction gear, providing a cruising speed of 20 knots at 90 per cent MCR, including a 15 per cent sea margin.