Fast monohulls enter Greek ferry market

With renewal of the Greek domestic ferry fleet gaining momentum, monohull fast ferries join multihulls on the list of newbuilding orders. If anybody in the Greek ferry business has been dozing, they may have got a rude awakening last month when Maritime Company of Lesvos (NEL) put its new Corsaire 12000 into service, a month after its delivery from Alstom Leroux in France. Believed to be the first monohull fast ferry operating in Greece, the 119m ship is capable of 36 knots and carrying 1,000 passengers and 210 cars. When looking for speed, Greek operators have so far opted for hydrofoils or catamarans in favour of the new generation of monohulls. But competitive conditions and the monohulls? ability to operate in rough seas which would keep catamarans or hydrofoils in port suggest that there could be a heavy demand for new fast ferries for years to come. For its part, NEL is to go on raising its game with, in addition to the Corsaire 12000, a 10000 and a 14000 due for delivery by Alstom in a year?s time. The 40 knot Corsaire 14000 ? 140m in length, with a capacity for 1,800 passengers and 450 cars ? is itself noteworthy for the power behind its waterjet propulsion. The ship will be the first ferry in Greece to be powered by two GE gas turbines, along with two Pielstick diesels in a combined diesel and gas configuration; GE has already supplied its LM2500 turbines to the Greek navy, for four frigates. On the face of it, GE and other companies involved in the manufacture of fast ferries should be in position to fill their order books in Greece. There are a lot of ageing ships in the Greek ferry fleet, and hence lots of opportunities for ship builders to win business in this region which is, by virtue of its geography, always going to support large numbers of ferries. Moreover, the European Union is set to end the Greek monopoly on operating between Greek ports in 2004, so there will soon be the possibility of operators from other European countries muscling in on what has been a closed market, and hence raising the competitive pressure for whoever is operating in Greece to run modern ships which are attractive in terms of comfort, speed and efficiency. Indeed, GE Marine Engines sees the NEL Corsaire 14000 as a “milestone project” for breaking the company into the Greek commercial market, according to regional director John Ferrera. He adds that another key characteristic of the Greek ferry industry right now is consolidation, a trend which he is convinced will lead to smaller fleets of bigger and faster ships. As far as GE is concerned, “The bigger the better, the faster the better,” he says; as a supplier of engines which only make economic sense when driving big ships fast he would say that, but the market dynamics do point in the bigger-faster direction. Note, for example, last month?s acquisition by Minoan Flying Dolphins of a 46 per cent stake in GA Ferries, which led to the cancellation of a GA order for a 150m ferry from Finnish ship builder Aker Finnyards. The exact reasons behind the cancellation are not clear, but a natural result of consolidation will inevitably be to avoid the doubling-up of assets. Mr Ferrera, though, is making no predictions about the likely volume of gas turbine sales to Greece. The NEL order is big news for GE but, he says, GE has been looking at the Greek commercial market for ten years and “it?s not blossomed yet.” Alstom Leroux is also excited by the prospect of further sales to come following the breakthrough with NEL, but is not yet ready to predict large numbers of sales. A spokesman said the market for fast monohull ferries is still quite new, and the ship builder is waiting for feedback from customers, including France?s SNCM, which has just taken delivery of a 43-knot Corsaire 13000. However, he said, Alstom believes monohull designs will, with their solid, steel hulls and ability to handle rough seas, prove preferable to aluminium catamarans. NEL?s Corsaire order, he said, “could launch the [monohull] fast ferry market in the Mediterranean.” NEL chief executive Apostolos Athimeos, says the three Corsaires will join the six ordinary ships the company operates. Speed can be important, he says, but in Greece there must always be a balance in the fleet between fast and regular ferries. That is because while speed sells, when it comes to car and passenger transit, much of the ferry traffic between the Greek mainland and islands carries lorries and goods to support local populations; on such regular runs low price outweighs high speed. Mr Athimeos admits that the introduction of NEL?s high-speed Corsaire 12000 last month could, given the underlying competitive pressure on Greek operators to modernise their fleets, lead rivals to look seriously at this type of ship. However, he declines to make any predictions about the future of the high-speed ferry market in Greece and notes that NEL has no further orders in the pipeline.