Hainan rail link launched

China?s first-ever rail ferry service was launched in January with the introduction of Yue Hai Tie I Hao. The rail ferry was purpose built to link the mainland railway terminal at Zhanjiang, in Guangdong Province, and Haikou, the provincial capital of Hainan Island. The 14,381g newbuilding, designed by Maric (Marine Design and Research Institute of China) in Shanghai, was constructed at the Shanghai-based shipyard of Jiangnan Shipbuilding Heavy Industry. A sister ship will follow from the same yard this month (May).

The newbuilding is a twin-deck 5,700 dwt rail ferry. The main deck is fitted out with four railway track lanes capable of carrying 40 cargo wagons or an 18-car passenger train. The upper deck has stowage space for 50 road trucks or trailers, or about 150 cars. Vehicle access to the upper deck is afforded by two side doors, one forward on the port side and one aft on the starboard side.

The ship has an open transom stern, with no stern doors, in order to reduce costs and meet regulatory requirements. This enables all four rail tracks to be simultaneously loaded and unloaded via purpose built shore-based link-spans. The distance across the Qiongzhou Straits (Hainan Straits) between Hai An, on the southern tip of Leizhou Peninsula, and Haikou is 24km. Yue Hai Tie I Hao will complete the crossing in about 45 minutes with a scheduled turnaround at each end of 45 minutes.

Up to 630 foot passengers can be accommodated in public seating areas while another 600 rail passengers will remain seated in the rail carriages for the duration of the sea crossing. Onboard life-saving equipment is capable of catering for up to 1,400 people.

Roll is minimised by the installation of an Intering stabiliser system consisting of three ballast tanks, which reduce the ship?s motion at sea by up to 50 per cent. Intering also provided an anti-heeling system capable of confining the heeling angle to less than 2 degrees during asymmetric loading and unloading. It is noteworthy that the Yue Hai Tie I Hao is the first Chinese passenger carrying vessel to be equipped with a voyage data recorder, a Kelvin Hughes NDR2002.

Built at a cost of about $25 million, the 165.4m long ferry is capable of safely navigating in up to gale-force 8 conditions according to Yu Baojun, its chief designer. A very finely shaped hull form allows the newbuilding to be operated at its normal service speed in most conditions. The measured speed during the sea trials showed an increase of about one knot compared to the anticipated speed calculated from model tests. Service speed is 15.2 knots.

Several propulsion options were investigated such as diesel electric and azimuthing propellers but in the final analysis a conventional diesel mechanical propulsion installation was selected. This consists of two Wärtsilä 6L32 medium speed diesels each producing 2,880kW at 720 rev/min and each driving a screw, through a reduction gear, with a 3.4m diameter Kamewa CP propeller. To aid manoeuvrability, two 720kW Kamewa thrusters with 1.65m diameter CP propellers are fitted in the bow and one 486kW thruster is fitted in the stern.

At present, the new ferry service will only handle freight rail cars while passenger trains will follow later this year. Hainan is China?s largest special economic zone as a result of the hitherto poor access. The hope is that the well developed tourism industry will receive a substantial boost. The railway link will slash transportation costs by up to 70 per cent according to local government officials. n

New podded ferry project in Bohai Bay

Bohai Rail Ferry, owned by Sino Rail Construction, Dalian Municipal and Yantai Municipal, will place an order for construction of three rail ferries in the coming months. The ships are for a new 147km railway-sea link between Dalian and Yantai across the Bohai Bay in northern China. The link will shorten the travelling distance between north-east China and Shandong province by 400km and north-east China and the Yangtze delta by 1,000km.

The new three-ship order will be confirmed after delivery of three ferries currently in build. This ferry project is a part of the railway modernisation from east to north-east China and the total investment of rail ferries including terminal facilities will be just over $375 million.

Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research (SDARI), an engineering organisation in Shanghai, will design the 182.60 metre long, 7,000 dwt ferries which will be fitted with up to four 3MW podded propulsors and have a service speed of 18 knots.