Contestants were tasked with designing a passenger ferry for the Pasig River in Manila
By
Elly Yates-Roberts |
The Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) has selected its 2019 ferry design competition winners. Contestants were tasked with designing a passenger ferry for the Pasig River in Manila –a route which has navigational challenges including low bridges and floating debris.
“The seriousness and sensitivity which all the teams expressed with their designs gives hope to the future,” said Roberta Weisbrod, executive director of WFSA.
The winning team from the Singapore Institute of Technology and Newcastle University in Singapore will be awarded a US$5,000 prize, having designed an aluminium hulled catamaran with hybrid propulsion, Pasig Express. The vessel features: a fin propeller reducing cavitation, noise and the wake; a debris and vegetation collector that protects propulsion against fouling saving energy and maintenance costs and also helps the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission restore the river’s cleanliness; three level fire protection; and six points of escape.
The team from Institut Teknologi Sepuulah Nopember in Surabaya, Indonesia, were awarded the second prize of US$3,000 for Aquilla, an aluminium catamaran with stern drive propulsion. The design is specially adapted to the river’s low bridges and waves impacts on riverbanks. The vessel also features a contra‐rotating design. Similar to Pasig Express, the vessel uses solar panels to reduce its fuel consumption.
The teams Shanghai Maritime University and the Universidad Veracruzana in Mexico that placed third will each be awarded US$1,000. Shanghai Maritime’s team designed a swath catamaran Molly and the team from Veracruz, Jaracho, a multihull aluminium vessel featuring a diesel electric propulsion solution which reduces operating costs and emissions). Both vessels focussed on safe exits and fire prevention.
The awards will be presented at WFSA’s Ferry Safety and Technology Conference in Bangkok, Thailand on 20-22 February 2019.