Beluga Shipping was recently commissioned to undertake an interesting project that involves the transport of a pair of ferries on the 166-metre multi-purpose heavy-lift carrier 'Beluga Singapore'.
Both vessels are designed to transport 1,500 passengers or up to 65 cars several times a day within Mombasa. The freight hold, in which 'Kwale' is going to travel the 9,000 nautical miles to Mombasa, measures just a few decimetres more than the cargo itself.
'Beluga Singapore's' on-board NMF-cranes placed the vessel precisely in its hold. Only after 'Kwale' was positioned in the hull of the vessel and protected against any movement was her identical twin 'Likoni' lifted onto the deck of the carrier.
'Likoni' and 'Kwale' are the first ferries to be built at the shipyard Schiffs- und Yachtwerft Dresden (SYWD). They are special orders placed from the state-owned Kenya Ferry Service in Mombasa. The shipyard, which once built paddle-steamers for the river Elbe, planned and worked on the ferries for about two years.
