Estonia's new island ferries pass ice test, go into production

Aker Arctic's 76-meter long pool is one of the four sites in the world where it is possible to test the behaviour of ship models in ice. Annually, the company tests about 25 models, half of them ice-breakers.

A six-meter model is tested in ice which in shape, weight, weight distribution, and the other parameters is set in a right ratio with the ship to be built. The information goes now to LMG Marin for detailed analysis. After that the company takes a couple of weeks for the final drawings of the ship hull.

Port of Tallinn board member Allan Kiil said that the Polish Remontowa shipyard will start building the ship in February, the Turkish Sefine in April-May.

The Estonian Ministry of Economy and Communications announced on October 14 last year that the best bid at the procurement for operating the ferry service at the mainland-Saaremaa and mainland-Hiiumaa island routes was made by the state-owned port operator company AS Tallinna Sadam's (Port of Tallinn) subsidiaries OÜ TS Laevad and OÜ TS Shipping. The state concluded a contract with Tallinna Sadam for ten years. Tallinna Sadam concluded contracts with shipyards Remontowa Shipbuilding and Sefine Shipyard for building four new ferries for the routes between the Estonian mainland and biggest islands; each shipyard will build two ferries.

The four new ferries will be built in Gdansk, Poland, and Altinova/Yalova, Turkey. The ferries will be 114 meters long and can accommodate up to 150 cars. There are 600 passenger seats equipped with rescue means on board the ships. The new ships are designed by Norwegian company LMG Marin.

The public transport contract with current operator Väinamere Liinid OÜ for operating the mainland-islands connections was concluded in 2006 and is valid till September 30, 2016.

(Source: http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/transport/?doc=101516)