Multi-purpose ro-ro takes shape at P&S

The first of the pair has now been rolled out of the assembly hall, and following tests for hull integrity and tests of the ro-ro equipment, it will be lowered into the water for completion, with delivery scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2013. Work on the second ship continues, and it is scheduled soon to move to the construction hall in place of its predecessor.

The ships are of 195m length oa, with 3,000 lane metres allowing carriage of up to 185 heavy goods vehicles. In addition, 342TEU of containers can be transported. The vessels will be deployed on international cargo routes. They can be made available to the Danish armed forces and German army as and when required for so-called ‘secured commercial strategic marine transportation’ purposes, a field in which Germany and Denmark have been since 2006.

P&S Werften has described the construction process in some detail. A ’rolling keel’ system has been employed to transport the hull. At the yard, the sections and rings as well as the afterbody, midbody and forebody of new ships are all built on a rolling keel from the start of the ship hull assembly phase and are subsequently assembled in the shipbuilding hall. The rail system simultaneously serves as an assembly platform for construction support. From the start of the hull assembly phase, sections and rings are positioned via keel block carriers. Fork-lift trucks are positioned on both sides enabling the hull to be lifted hydraulically and transported. The DFDS vessel was moved out of the ship assembly hall at a speed of 2m/min on 43 keel block carriers and 86 fork-lift trucksThe journey to the ship lift took just under three hours.