Carbon fibre for fast ferry construction

Fintry Marine Design AG and Kockums AB, part of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, have reached an agreement to co-operate in the marketing, design and construction of fast ferries, work and pilot boats built in an innovative carbon fibre reinforced sandwich structure.

For the last five years, Swiss company Fintry says that it has been involved in designing special workboats to transport supplies and service personnel to, from and within offshore wind parks in the waters of Northern Europe. The low displacement of the vessels, due to the composite material, reduces the risk of damage to the turbines when docking.

Kockums, who have gained its composite experience for more than 50 years, specialises in naval technology ­above and below the surface.
Its experience with carbon fibre reinforced sandwich resulted in the Visby Class Naval Corvette, said to be the world's largest surface vessel built in this material. The company operates shipyards in Kariskrone, Malmo and Musko.

Kockums will build Fintry CarboCat vessels which are claimed to be up to 30% lighter than aluminium and far stronger than either aluminium or steel. Fuel savings are expected to reach more than 20%. The carbon fibre material is non-corrosive and the sandwich formulation possesses a low maintenance cost with an extremely high safety factor. In addition to the savings in fuel and maintenance costs these lighter vessels will require smaller engines to achieve performance equivalent to similar sized builds in aluminium, thus enhancing their environmental footprint.

Lindsay Leggat-Smith, Fintry Marine MD echoed Lars Tedehammar, Senior Vice President of the Business Unit - Service Ships at Kockums AB in saying, "We are delighted to be signing this important new association as in the current economic climate the time is right to take full advantage of the cost-saving benefits built in this innovative technology."

(Source The Motor Ship)