Oman: With its Austal-built high-speed ferry 'Hormuz' having already increased the record for the world's fastest diesel powered vehicle passenger ferry, setting a target of 56.3 knots, the National Ferry Company of Oman has now confirmed that her sister vessel 'Shinas' has broken that record by achieving a speed of 56.6 knots.
The record was broken on November 29 while the vessel was on passage from Wedam to Muscat in light wind and a half-metre swell. While 56.6 knots was the highest speed recorded the average speed for the entire journey was an impressive 52.5 knots.
'Shinas' and 'Hormuz' are identical 65-metre aluminium catamarans, delivered in 2008, which have the capacity to carry 208 passengers and 56 cars or 54 lane metres of trucks plus 40 cars.
The ferries provide a tourism service to Oman's ruggedly spectacular Musandam Peninsular and are the flagship vessels in the Sultanate's expanding marine transport.
The service linking Muscat to Khassab in the Musandam Peninsular is the longest fast ferry route in the world and the two ferries were optimised to cover the 225 nautical mile journey at speeds of up to 50 knots.
Each ferry is powered by four MTU 20 cylinder 1163 series diesel engines driving a Rolls Royce/KaMeWa waterjet propulsion system that was selected to achieve the strict performance targets with special consideration for the local operating conditions.
The vessels were built in accordance with the requirements and under the survey of Det Norske Veritas, conforming to the International Maritime Organisation High Speed Craft code (HSC 2000).
Disclosure: Members of the Baird family or companies in the Baird Publications group own shares in Austal.
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