Wight Shipyard Co has achieved a UK first by building 4 ferries simultaneously at its yard in East Cowes, for a leading Maltese tour operator.
The order, WSC’s largest ferry export order to date, consists of 2x 20m and 2x 33m lightweight ferries, designed by One2Three Naval Architects.
Jo Daly, Chief Operation Officer at Wight Shipyard Co, has said:
“We are proud of being able to produce four large ferries within a year, despite the restrictions and changes to working brought about by the worldwide pandemic Covid19. This is testament to the outstanding team that made such a quick completion possible whilst still achieving the same high build standards and attention to detail that WSC has become synonymous with.”
The 2 newbuild 20m harbour catamarans will replace existing vessels which already service the historic harbour cruise around the 2 natural harbours surrounding the capital city of Valletta and the 3-cities. The 20m is designed to be a slower harbour waterbus for frequent stopping in ports surrounding the sheltered waters around the capital. It is designed for optimum efficiency achieving speeds of between 8-10 knots, with a top speed of 20 knots.
It can carry 197 passengers and 3 crew.
The 2x 33m medium speed vessels meanwhile will service a new commuter/tourist hop-on hop-off service along the east coast of Malta as far as the island of Gozo. These vessels are also replacing a number of old existing vessels which transport commuters between the islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino.
The main aim for these vessels is to move commuters and tourists quickly in and out of different locations around the coast and offer commuters flexibility and comfort. Whilst operating below 20 knots and under high speed code it can achieve a top speed of 30 knots. It can carry 298 passengers and 4 crew.
Well done guys..
Well done hope there’s more work coming your way.
IWC take note: Local companies CAN make ferries, and after the extra you have spent on the sack of sh*t that is the “Wight Elephant” it would have been cheaper for the taxpayer.
Whilst Plato you are correct they ‘could’ have built the White Elephant even if it were less expensive for the taxpayer, which is a given, it would not have been so ‘profitable’ for our ‘business’ minded Council, as although they have the skills, they may not yet know how to fill brown envelopes correctly.
Great work, best hope future orders arrive, otherwise the business ‘minded’ C ouncilers will likely buy it up to build upon. As no profit for them otherwise. They like to be tickled pink, with their symbiotic developer relationship.
You to know them well then stichbury? I have know these people a long time, and imo a very uneasy relationship when public funds are so heavily involved.
Yes I can see the Island fast becoming like the mainland. Any business in a prime building position being pushed, forced, or bought out, and then the Council and their developer pals, C aptiva or ‘the pinks’ teaming up for each others mutual gain.
Little profit for the council from seeing a private business run, unless they own such, far more profit for them to destroy such, and then gain on council tax from a multitude of new homes, than one business tax, and of course we can only ‘guess’ what the very grateful developer ‘whoever’ that may be, will do privately as a thank you.
An absolutely fantastic achievement, especially as CV19 has affected almost all manufacturing.
Perhaps they could design and build a floating bridge that actually works.
Perhaps Wightlink could get them to build their next car ferry – they used to use British yards prior to St. Clare. Perhaps it should be a pre-condition to them retaining the route licence.
I doubt they have the capacity to build a car ferry there due to size. There are no route licenses and can’t go and create ones to private companies unless nationalise.
There is a licence?