The keel of the 1,200 passenger vessel designed by the engineering and technology group SENER was recently laid in Factory No. 2 of POSCO PLANTEC, in Ulsan, South Korea. SENER representatives attended to the keel laying ceremony, which was presided by members of the Zanzibar Government, the owner of the vessel. The ship will operate in Northern Mozambique, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Tanga and Mombasa.
On behalf of the owner the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Communications, Dr. Juma Malik Akil, assisted the ceremony, as well as other officials: the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Khamis Mussa Omar; the Principal Secretary of the Second Vice President Office, Dr. Khalid Salum Mohamed; the Director General of the Zanzibar Maritime Authority, Mr. Abdi Omar Maalim; the Captain at the Zanzibar Shipping Corporation, Capt. Abubakar Mzee Ali; and the Senior Planning Officer/Project Manager of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Communications, Mr. Yussuf Mohammed Ali. Also attended to the ceremony representatives from POSCO PLANTEC, Daewoo International and Lloyd’s Register.
The scope of the project developed by SENER includes conceptual and classification engineering and the 3D model to extract the production information, and is being developed with SENER’s 3D CAD system FORAN. The design belongs to a specialty well known by SENER due to the recent references of passengers and Ro-Ro vessels, such as "José manuel Entrecanales" and "Murillo" for Acciona, "Martin I Soler" for Balearia, and one ferry for Viking Line.
Among the most important requirements of the ferry, which will have an overall length of 90m, highlights its passenger capacity, divided in economy, first and VIP classes. The ship will have a garage for cargo and vehicles, with access through one stern ramp for cars and trucks and two side ramps for cargo. The speed on trials will be 16 knots at the design draft of 3.35m. It will have a crew of 32 people.
SENER was founded almost 60 years ago as a marine engineering firm and, since then, the company has retained its original vocation, having contributed with its own design system to the construction of more than a thousand vessels in shipyards around the world. Today, SENER has two important lines of business in the Marine sector: professional marine engineering services and FORAN, a worldwide reference program for computer design and marine construction.