Welcome to Passenger Vessel Week!
PASSENGER VESSEL WEEK
Here we go again! There is plenty happening in the world of passenger vessels. While the coronavirus appears to have slaughtered the cruise sector, most other parts seem to be at least surviving and, in some cases, flourishing. In any case, most of the orders for recently delivered vessels were placed well before the virus hit us. At least their builders have managed to keep operating to finish them.
Obviously, tourism, particularly international tourism, will take a long time to recover. However, local “within a bubble” tourism seems to be flourishing in those parts of the world such as Asia and Australasia where “lockdowns” were quick, hard and well-enforced.
The next step, of course, will be the vaccine. It appears likely to be widely introduced in Q2, 2021. If it is effected as quickly as hoped, there could well be a tourist boom driven by all the pent-up demand by the northern summer. Let’s hope so anyway.
Meanwhile, in this month’s Passenger Vessel Week there will be full reviews of seven new vessel types (some have several identical sister vessels) with plenty of news of others. Those reviews cover vessels ranging from 8.5 to 126 metres LOA and built of aluminium, FRP and, even “old-fashioned” steel. They include Ro-Pax and pure passenger ferries along with simple day tourist boats, fast, stepped-hull passenger tenders through to an exclusive luxury cruise ship.
Ferries • Ro-Pax • Marine Tourism • Cruise • Freshwater
Owners include those from Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, and Trinidad and Tobago. Builders are from Iceland, Vietnam, Australia, and Portugal. The designers are from Australia, Iceland, Portugal, and Thailand. Our usual very cosmopolitan cast of players.
Notably, and importantly for passenger vessels, well more than fifty per cent of those “vessel types” are catamarans with multi-compartmented hulls. They have been built to the rules of and classed by either leading class societies or the Australian NSCV Rule. They should be as safe as possible.
Of course, as usual, there is a vast array of engines, propulsion systems, electronics, safety equipment, decoration, HVAC and other important components from global sources presented along with the vessels. It’s another exciting and fascinating week.
Vessel Reviews:
- Riva Express 4 – Chao Phraya Express Boat gets ferry quartet for Bangkok-Nonthaburi service
- A.P.T. James – Large-capacity fast ferry for Trinidad and Tobago operator
- Coolgaree Cat – Efficient, durable catamaran for Sealink’s Townsville-Palm Island route
- Queen Beetle – New 500-pax trimaran to serve Fukuoka-Busan route
- Crystal Singer – Thai-built sunset cruising catamaran for Malaysia’s Langkawi islands
- World Explorer – Mystic Cruises opts for hybrid power on Portugal’s first polar expedition ship
- Shackleton & Scott – Utility RIB and tender RIB for cruise ship support work
- Migjorn Jet – Third 30-metre fast ferry in series for Balearic Islands customer
News, Gear and Book Reviews:
- Construction underway on hybrid ferries for Lake Geneva route
- Sea trials begin for Russian ferry Admiral Nevelskoy
- Isle of Man Ship Registry chosen to flag New Zealand’s new rail ferries
- Fukuoka Shipbuilding launches CLC’s newest ferry
Recent Important Features:
FEATURE | Amsterdam to receive MIT-developed unmanned water taxis
– “The leader initiates movement to the destination, and then the other unmanned boats can estimate the intention of the leader, and align their movements accordingly.”
Remember to come back every day to see the latest news, opinion and vessel reviews!
Call for content!
Any news or views about the global maritime tourism, ferry and cruise industries? Send it through to [email protected] ASAP (between now and November 27), so we can add it to this current edition of Passenger Vessel Week!
We are after:
- Vessels – Orders, new deliveries, under construction
- Gear – Latest innovations and technology in the passenger vessel sector
- Interviews – Owners, operators, terminal authorities, passenger vessel associations etc.
- Reminiscences – Do you have any exciting, amusing or downright dangerous anecdotes from your time in the passenger vessel world? (example here)
- Other – Any other relevant news
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