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Another major project
for Deltamarin at the
time was Viking Line’s
LNG-fuelled ro-pax
vessel. The newbuilding
project started in 2017.
After developing the concept together with the
owner, Deltamarin’s role was basic and detail
design as well as engineering and construction
support services during vessel construction,
which would take place at the Xiamen
Shipbuilding Industry (XSI) shipyard. The
planned delivery of the vessel was in 2020.
Special focus in concept development
was put on hull form development, weight
control, energy efficiency, including waste
heat recovery, and improvement of the
general arrangement. Deltamarin succeeded
in making the new concept 10% more
energy-efficient than Viking Line’s previous
newbuilding, Viking Grace.
The new ro-pax vessel for Viking Line
would have a passenger capacity of 2,800
people, and the length of its cargo lanes
would be 1,500 metres. It would run on
liquefied natural gas (LNG), serving the
Finland–Sweden route, connecting Turku,
Åland Islands, and Stockholm as part of the
European Union’s Motorways of the Seas
project.
Deltamarin developed the new vessel
concept together with Viking Line.
Deltamarin’s sales manager Nina Savijoki
commented on the project in the company
press release: “We are very happy with our
constructive cooperation with Viking Line.
From a naval architectural point of view, they
presented us with every concept developer’s
dream challenge: to come up with a concept
that is even more energy-efficient in relation
to cargo capacity than their Viking Grace, one
of the most energy-efficient and sophisticated
ferries on the market.”
“We have received good support from
Deltamarin during the concept development
and the worldwide yard selection phase and
look forward to continuing the work together
with it and Xiamen Shipyard during the
vessel construction,” said Kari Granberg, NB
manager at Viking Line.
“I started as a chief engineer in 1999 and
was involved in a lot of different newbuilding
projects and retrofits. Since then I had been
in contact with Deltamarin from time to
time for different consultant work. I was also
involved in an EU project in the early 2000s
as part of an Optipod project. Deltamarin
was one of the partners in that project. It was
a very interesting project. Now almost 20
years on, we finally have these Azipods on
our newbuilding, so it takes some time,” says
Granberg, recalling his work history with
Deltamarin.
Describing the Viking Line project, he says,
“It started around 2016, when we started
working on a new vessel that would serve
the same route as Viking Grace. We wanted
Kari Granberg, Project
Manager at Viking Line