Feature 7 |PASSENGER VESSELS First ever high-speed ferries for Lake Geneva
A new low-wash, eco-friendly, high-speed ferry has satisfied the stringent requirements for commuters on Lake Geneva.
reason, the regular ferries carrying French commuters to Geneva have always been slow. However, once the work permit rules
T
relating to French nationals working in Switzerland were changed, the daily commuting traffic increased and demand for the cross-lake ferry trip grew quickly. As a result, ferry operating company CGN Navibus realised it had to increase the speed and frequency of its daily ferry crossings. French shipyard SEEM, which is located
north of Nantes, was approached to build two specially designed high-speed ferries, named Coppet and Geneve, that would carry 120 passengers. The design had to satisfy the Swiss
authorities that it would be low wash and therefore eco-friendly – so twin Hamilton HM521 jet units were specified. Te new ferries have now halved the time of the trip.
Te ships are all-aluminium, and the
hull, deck, and superstructure were made as three separate parts - then trucked as
ADVERTISERS’ INDEX
If you would like to receive further information on the advertisers’ featured within Ship & Boat International, please contact Donna McGrath, Advertisement Manager:
dmcgrath@rina.org.uk, quoting the relevant enquiry numbers listed below.
Client
Aker Brattvaag AS Astilleros Gondan
Astilleros Zamakona SA Atlas Copco Austal Ships
Berg Propulsion AB
Buckie Shipyard Limited C C Jensen AS
Colombo Dockyard Ltd Cummins Inc.
Damen Shipyards 58
page 35
45 45 12 3
FC 52 55 21 33
OBC
N Sundin Dockstavarvet ABN 17 R.W Fernstrum & Co.
21
enquiry T01
T02 T03 T04 T05 T06 T07 T08 T09 T10 T11 T12 T13
Client
Giro Engineering Ltd Grupo Armon SA
HRP Thruster Systems IMDS Naval Show 2008 Japan Radio Co. Ltd Jastram Engineering
Lung-Teh Shipbuilding Co. Macduff Shipyards Ltd MAN B&W Diesel Maritime Partner Marstrom
MJP Waterjets AB Noreq AS
page enquiry 41
23 19
IBC 25 25 25 52 11 37 41 57 14
T14 T15 T16 T17 T18 T19 T20 T21 T22 T23 T24 T25 T26
Client
MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH Piening Propeller RWO GmbH
Robert Allan Ltd Scania CV AB
Schottel GmbH & Co Kg Ultra Dynamics Ltd Union Naval Valencia AB Volvo Penta AB Wolfson Unit ZF Padova SpA
Zeleodolsk Shipyard
page enquiry IFC
27 61 21 15 47 27 41 39 9
19 51
T27 T28 T29 T30 T31 T32 T33 T34 T35 T36 T37 T38
Ship & Boat International May/June 2008
he Swiss are rightly very keen to protect the environment on and around their lakes and for this
The 25m Coppet is the first fast ferry to ever operate on Lake Geneva.
individual loads across the mountains. Ten they were assembled in Evian. The vessels have a length overall of
25m, a beam of 7.10m, a draught of 0.95m, and a displacement of 53tonnes. Coppet and Geneve can reach a maximum speed of 30knots, and have a 27knot service speed. Two Caterpillar C32 850kW main engines have also been installed. Te Hamilton Jet units are driven by
twin C32 1045kW engines and control- led by Hamilton Jet’s modular electronic control system (MECS). Tis is a commer- cial version of Hamilton Jet’s Blue Arrow steering system, and can control multiple jet units simultaneously, as well as offering
multi-station operation. In simple terms, MECS means that wherever the joystick is pointed, the boat goes – even reducing or increasing engine revs as necessary to complete a complicated manoeuvre. Hamilton Jet UK did not only supply
the jet units – it trained the ferry crews on how to operate the boat and maintain the units. In this instance, training was stipulated by the Swiss authorities as a condition of permission being given for the new ferries to operate on Lake Geneva. So CGN Navibus’ ferry skippers had an intensive three-day course in the UK on Hamilton Jet UK’s simulator, followed by 21 days training on Coppet itself. SBI
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