Korean Yard Gears Up To Fast Ferry Market

South Korea’s shipbuilding industry has shown another side to its capabilities through the delivery of a 72m high-speed passenger ferry. Constructed by Kangnam Corporation at Busan to an Australian design, the 40-knot catamaran will support lifeline services between the mainland at Incheon, near the capital Seoul, and island communities in the Yellow Sea.

Built to the order of Korea Express Ferry, the all-aluminium, single-deck Korea Pride is laid out for 556 passengers and has been tailored to the operating area’s characteristically large swell and wind-prone conditions. The 72m platform is longer than usual for such a single-deck vessel, giving a greater speed without sacrificing fuel efficiency.

As well as supplying the design, New South Wales-based Incat Crowther provided support and supervision for the newbuild construction project at the Busan yard. Kangnam has hitherto mainly produced patrol boats, minesweepers and other naval and agency vessels and craft for South Korea. A long track record in fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) hulls has been subsequently augmented by steel and aluminium newbuild references.

Korea Pride is powered by a quadruple MTU diesel installation, using M73L models of the Series 4000 engine in its 16-cylinder, vee-type configuration. Each unit has a maximum rating of 2,880kW at 2,050rpm, making for a power concentration of 11,520kW delivered through reduction gearboxes to four Kamewa S71 waterjets.

While the contractual speed stipulation was 40 knots, the vessel is reported to have achieved more than 41 knots on trials, affording a significant margin over the normal 36.5-knot operating speed requirement.

The engine spaces in the twin hulls feature exposed hatches, facilitating access and thereby aiding maintenance and overhaul work and machinery removal if necessary. Two gensets, sized for 290ekW at 1,800rpm, feed the shipboard grid.

Korea Express Ferry’s catamaran fleet maintains fast, scheduled connections between Incheon and Deokjeokdo Island and Yeonpyeongdo Island, in the Yellow Sea and, on the peninsula’s south east coast, between Jinhae and Geojedo Island.

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