Expedition Voyage Consultants and Knud E. Hansen helped to develop 115-guest ship
By
Rebecca Gibson |
Damen Shipyards Group, Expedition Voyage Consultants and Knud E. Hansen have finalised the design for a prototype expedition cruise vessel.
Designed to operate in remote polar and tropical regions, the 115-passenger Damen Expedition Cruise Vessel will comply with Polar Ice Class 6 standards and SOLAS’ Safe Return to Port requirements. It will also feature around 1,100sqm of public space and 2,500sqm of outside deck space.
Damen worked with naval architect Knud E. Hansen to help develop the design.
“Bringing Knud E. Hansen onto the project team allowed us to benefit from the company’s vast collective expertise in designing passenger ships – including the first-ever expedition cruise ship,” said Henk Grunstra, Damen’s product director. “By combining Knud E. Hansen’s portfolio including designs for more than 700 cruise vessels and the 6,000-plus ships that Damen has built over the years, you have quite a team at your disposal.”
Expedition Voyage Consultants helped Damen to design the interior elements and the onboard logistics. A core philosophy of the design was to connect passengers to their external environment, consequently the vessel will have multiple viewing platforms that extend over its side or past the bow. Perched on the ship’s mast, a specially developed crow’s nest will aide visibility during ice navigation, and give passengers a panoramic view.
“Passengers will be able to see that this vessel was not only designed for the expedition industry, but also by the expedition industry,” said Grunstra.
The vessel will operate at a service speed of 16 knots and will be powered by a diesel-mechanical hybrid configuration, which incorporates IMO Tier III compliant (EPA tier 4 equivalent) medium-speed engines. The system will also feature a PTI-PTO variable frequency drive to ensure efficient load distribution on the engines.
Designed to be ‘battery ready’, the vessel could be equipped with an energy storage battery system capable of various functions such as peak- shaving, and provision of supplementary power for manoeuvring or silent sailing operations.
“This hybrid propulsion technology is the most fuel efficient option available,” said Grunstra. “In combination with the hull design and the effective use of electricity onboard, we are expecting to reach fuel consumption and carbon dioxide reductions of at least 20%.”
Damen will develop a similar vessel with capacity for more than 200 passengers in the near future.