Hjaltland opens island lifeline

This month sees the introduction of a new passenger and freight roro ferry operator on three Scottish “lifeline” routes, and with it three new ships. With the takeover, from October 1, of P&O Scottish Ferries? Aberdeen to Orkney and Shetland routes came the need for ships, and operator NorthLink opted to go for newbuildings. Aker Finnyards in Rauma won the contract, and the first ship, the 11,230g Hjaltland, was delivered in August. Its sister ship, Hrossey, was set to follow on September 6 while a third, smaller vessel ? Hamnavoe (8,940gt) ? was being readied for September 27.

NorthLink chief executive Bill Davidson says this is the first time that ships have been purpose-built for these routes. Hjaltland and Hrossey were designed for the long-haul Aberdeen to Kirkwall, Orkney and Lerwick, Shetland routes. Bad weather being a regular feature of operations in the North Sea, the ships were built as big as possible, for comfort.

The limiting factor, says Davidson, was the size of Aberdeen harbour, restricting the ships? length to 125m (the maximum which can be turned around in harbour) and draught to 5.3m.

The market calls for an overnight crossing to Lerwick, which Hjaltland will cover in 12 hours at 24 knots, weather permitting, cutting two hours off the current service on the 186-mile route.

Greater speed will also allow a significant advantage on the route via Kirkwall, which will be serviced by Hrossey. A “sprint” from Aberdeen to Kirkwall followed by a second leg, less hurried, to Lerwick will all come in 14 hours, versus 20 at present.

The ships were therefore designed for optimum operation at both 15 knots and 24 knots. Slower speed operation calls into service just one of the ships? 5,400kW MaK 6M43s and a single, gearbox-driven propeller shaft. For full speed all four engines and both shafts will run. Propellers are controllable pitch. Highlighting the cost of speed, Davidson points out that the 21,600kW installed on each ship is three times the power available on the older vessels they replace.

The smaller vessel, Hamnavoe, will operate on a shorter route, across the Pentland Firth between the mainland at Scrabster and Stomness, on the west of Orkney island. The 27-mile route takes 90 minutes. Passenger capacity is again 600 and the ship does offer 36 berths in 16 cabins. Power is by two MaK 9M32s, each putting out 4,320kW.

For all three ships, technical design was by Caledonian MacBrayne, which owns 50 per cent of NorthLink, and Deltamarin.

The building contracts were tendered to yards worldwide, and Aker offered the best package of price and delivery times, even beating offers from Asia, says Davidson. On a visit to the yard NorthLink was especially impressed by the quality of work being done on the Irish Ferries ship Ulysses, which was under construction at that time.

And, says Davidson, Aker deserves particular praise for delivering Hjaltland to specification, on budget and four days ahead of contract.