Ferry interior refurbishments for UK company

The 102m trimaran ferry was built by Austal Ships of Western Australia for sale or charter, as a development of the previous trimaran design and the recently-delivered US littoral combat ship. Having been acquired by Condor Ferries, the ship is due to undergo a two-month programme of improvements in January 2015 before going into service between Poole and the Channel in March.

As built, the ship lacked adequate catering provision, so Trimline is to design and install a galley to serve a self-service restaurant that will also be created by the Trimline team. Lighting, seating, catering equipment and serveries will are all being designed to complement the Condor Ferries colour scheme.

The bar, bureau de change, children’s area and duty free shop are all scheduled for transformation, with all units for the shop being created at Trimline’s Southampton headquarters. Electrical work and flooring will all be undertaken by Trimline to complete the refurbishment.

The company says that the high-speed ferry requires all additional items to be fabricated from specialist lightweight materials to enable the ferry to stay within safe weight limits for operation.

Mark Hodgetts, onboard services director at Condor Ferries, said: “We are really looking forward to working closely with Trimline on this project, the work is a real partnership between us, Trimline and Austal who designed and manufactured the ship. The design for the onboard layout has been carefully considered and planned – it will offer our passengers more choice across retail and catering with new brands, concepts and menu options.”

Andrew Richards, Trimline CEO, said: “All of the team at Trimline are delighted to be working with Condor Ferries on this prestigious project. It gives us a great opportunity to show how, by collaborating with the project team at Condor, we can deliver modern solution to address passenger comfort, catering and retail needs that will be both cost effective and revenue enhancing for the operator”

Trimline says it has been providing services to the cruise and ferry, offshore, defence and superyacht sectors for nearly 50 years. It claims to be among the European market leaders for marine interior refurbishment, including design, planning, construction and engineering of interior spaces including structural steelwork, HVAC, electrical, marine catering and logistics.

Condor Ferries operates three high speed catamaran ferries, Condor Vitesse, Condor Express, and Condor Rapide, as well as the ro-pax vessel Commodore Clipper and the freight ferry Commodore Goodwill.

Meanwhile, following a refurbishment and extension to Red Funnel’s Red Falcon ferry in February 2014, Trimline is to carry out a similar interior refurbishment to sister ship Red Osprey.

The £2.2 million refurbishment and extension to the Isle of Wight ferry will include two new lounges added to the promenade deck and a complete refurbishment of the ships interior. The planned work is due to take place in early 2015 with Red Osprey re-entering service in time for Easter 2015.

In addition to the construction of the two new passenger lounges, Trimline will undertake a complete refurbishment of the galley area, including new equipment and appliances, electrical and air conditioning installation along with the extension of the existing lift and creation of new accessible toilets, cafes and bars.

Following the Red Falcon refurbishment, Red Funnel Isle of Wight Ferries says it experienced traffic levels 15% up 15 on the previous year.