Strategic Marine Shipyard in Vietnam built the BMT-designed Willem Barentsz, and sister vessel Willem de Vlamingh, while Rederij Doeksen completed final outfitting and commissioning.

For an operational area within the Wadden Sea, Rederij Doeksen's main focus, led by its managing director Paul Melles, was on reducing the vessel's environmental effects. Engineering company BMT said it embraced this vision and offered the technological solution to minimize NOx, CO2 and noise while increasing the design quality to reduce operating costs.

“The development of a full aluminum vessel to meet national rules that typically assumes steel construction has, as always, been a challenge. Despite this, the end result demonstrates the benefits in terms of low power consumption, and specifically for Rederij Doeksen’s operation, the low operating draft,” Sylvain Julien, Director of Naval Architecture at  Specialized Ship Design, BMT stated.

The hull shape layout adopted a multi-design requirements optimization approach to compensate for the many project constraints such as integration of LNG containment systems and shallow water operation while providing the lowest possible power demand across the operating range of the ferry.

The vessel design includes other features to boost their green credentials and further reduce their pollution and operating costs. In addition to the LNG used for the main propulsion and boilers, BMT and Rederij Doeksen have paid special attention to minimizing energy consumption and reducing the set sizing of generators.

The Doeksen ferry contains 600 passengers, 66 vehicles, 120-meter truck lane and six members of the crew. The vessel runs at 14 knots servicing speed.

Maritime Business World