BMT unveils new water taxi vessel designs for Hong Kong

BMT has introduced two new vessel designs in response to a tender issued by Hong Kong’s Transport Department to support the development of domestic passenger ferry services.

Unveiled were designs for a new hybrid “Eco Ferry” and a smaller 14-passenger harbour craft for on-demand and ad hoc trips.

Both vessels are designed to ensure faster, more fuel-efficient transits across Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour.

The new hybrid Eco Ferry vessel design is a low-cost and sustainable 31-metre, 20-knot design, that has been proposed by BMT to serve traditional routes with typically higher passenger peak flows. The second design is a small-scale but highly flexible craft.

The Eco Ferry hybrid propulsion allows the engines to be switched off for over 50 per cent of the time, leading to considerable savings on fuel consumption, engine hours, and maintenance as well as the removal of emissions.