First on Forth for Alnmaritec
Alnmaritec recently delivered a new 50 passenger ferry to the Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors JV who are currently building the Forth Replacement Crossing over the Firth of Forth for the client, the Scottish Government. The £790M new bridge will sit alongside the famous Forth Road and Rail bridges and will be 1.7 miles long, carrying two lanes of motorway traffic in each direction.
One of the highly successful Alnmaritec Wave Commander class, the newly delivered boat will be used to transport construction personnel from the jetty in Rosyth docks to the different working platforms during the course of the project, all year round. In addition to 50 passengers she carries a complement of 2 crew in comfort within the large one and a half height wheelhouse (providing excellent all round visibility from the helm position) which also houses a WC and storage areas.
The process for selecting the right partner for the project was stringent as Deputy Plant Manager on the project, Salah Lababidi explains; “Our selection was based on a combination of technical, commercial, and quality evaluations of the bids received. Another key factor was our confidence in the team working on the design and build of the boat – we had to ensure that the boat was built to high standards in order to meet the new passenger vessels rules.”
The boat, named ‘Linzi S’ after the Marine Office secretary on the project is the first vessel in the UK to be built to the new Merchant Shipping Notice MSN1823(M) Passenger Craft Rules for Category D waters. She measures 16.3m x 7m and is powered by twin Cummins QSC 8.3 litre engines driving fixed pitch propellers via ZF gearboxes, giving her a loaded speed of around 18 knots.
Managing Director of Alnmaritec Chris Millman added, “We were naturally delighted to be awarded the contract which enabled Alnmaritec to play a part in this significant infrastructure project. We are even more pleased with the finished product which we are sure will serve the project well.”