new delivery

Zhong Tie Bo Hai 1 Hao

Since the beginning of November, Ferry Co Ltd, the ships are designed to serve – three million tonnes allocated to Dalian and
the first in a series of diesel- a new train ferry line across the Bohai Strait three and a half million tonnes to Yantai.
electric train ferries delivered from between Yantai and Dalian. The new ferry is owned by a joint venture
The newbuildings have been designed by between Sinorail (50 per cent), Dalian
the Tianjin Xingang Shipyard in
Shanghai Merchant Ship & Research Institute, Construction & Investment Co (17.5 per cent),
Tanggou has served a new route
together with the shipyard. Zhong Tie Bo Yantai Power Investment Co (17.5 per cent) and
115 across the Bohai 125°
120° Strait between 130° 135°
Hai 1 Hao is designed to carry freight train Sinorail No 2 Bureau Ltd (15 per cent). In 2004,
Yantai in east China and Dalian in
Blagoveshchensk wagons, trucks, cars and passengers. It has an the cost of the total project was initially estimated
the northeast
XI

Khabarovsk
overall length of 182.6m, breadth of 24.8m and
A

ZHONG TIE BO HAI 1 HAO

O

T A m u
BE
N LING

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IN a draft of 5.8m.
H

K H
G
VY
Y G
A Currently, more than 18 million tonnes of Builder Tianjin Xingang Shipyard
O N
by Henrik Segercrantz
N
O LI Owner/operator Sinorail Bohai Train Ferry Co Ltd.
GGA

BL NG acargo and seven million people travel annually

A Hulun
u

Hull No SB346 1 (sistership SB346 2)

gh

Nur
between Dalian and Yantai.The railway system
HIN

Z
Son

U 45° Length, oa 182.6 m

hong Tie Bo Hai 1Qiqihar
R U
N U Hao (Sinorail Bohai links the northern end of the Shandong Peninsula
Length, bp 164.6 m
DA

Buyr Oz.
No1), the first 22,700gt ropax freight-
Nuur Harbin Khanka
and southern tip of the Liaoning Peninsula and
Choybalsan
len
Breadth 24.8 m
K er u train ferry in a planned series of nine Mudanjiang its new six-hour 86.3 nautical mile-long ferry
Depth, mld, to main dk 9.00 m
vessels, was officially delivered in mid-October Vladivostok leg will shorten the original train connection Machinery diesel-electric
from the Tianjin Xingang Shipyard in Tanggou,Jilin between these two cities by some 1,500km, and
Changchun Main engines 4 x MaK 9M25 engines
situated on Bohai Bay, China. Owned and from northern China to the southeastern areas Output 4 x 3,000kW
Ch’ongjin
Saynshand operated by Yantai-based Sinorail Bohai Train by about 1,000km to 1,600km. Propulsion 2 x ABB Compact Azipods
The new route was officially approved Propulsion power 2 x 4,088kW
40°
Shenyang in 1997
S E A and
O F is an important part of China’s Service speed 18 knots
CHINA coastalJ A Prailway
AN corridor intended to help Gross tonnage abt 22,700gt
Wonsa
rejuvenate the country’s aging industrial area Deadweight 9,000 dwt*
LIAODONG PENINSULA in the northeast. The ferries will also ship Capacities 50 rail wagons
Baotou Beijing 50 trucks and 25 cars
Lüshun Dalian products up to the northeast including export
Tianjin 5 train deck lanes 768m total
Bohai products to Russia.
Tanggu Sea Yantai 6 truck deck lanes 450m total
S In the Bohai Strait project’s first phase,
SHANDONG PENINSULA Taeg are planned, and by 2008 all of
Passengers abt 480
three ferries
Yellow u 35° Crew 57*
Sea these will be operating on the Bohai Strait
0Km 100Km Qingdao Classification CCS
crossing. Initially, the railway transportation
*unconfirmed
capacity is estimated to be 6.5 million tonnes

16 I Ferry Technology I December

Xuzhou 2006 www.ferrytechnology.com
Luoyang
Hongze
Xi’an Hu Gaoyou
Huainan Hu Nantong
FT_Dec 06_Text.indd 16 Nanjing
12/12/06 16:59:49

Chao Tai Shanghai 30°

 to be about 3.1 billion yuan (approximately second-class cabins are equipped with satellite
US$373 million at a 2004 exchange rate) with communication telephones and satellite television.
construction costs around 2.4 billion yuan. Zhong Tie Bo Hai 1 Hao employs a diesel-
This includes the purchase of three ferries, port electric power plant, and is propelled by two
construction and infrastructure, and a vessel ABB Compact Azipod drives. Service speed is
traffic safety control system. The cost of each ferry 18 knots with a 25 per cent sea margin The
is around 440 million yuan (US$53 million). underflow stern hull has a large centre skeg, and
The Bohai ferry officially started operating at forward there are two tunnel thrusters.
the beginning of November, when it crossed the The main genset drives are four MaK 9M25
strait from the new train and passenger terminal medium speed diesel engines, each rated
at Yangtouwa harbour in Lushun, Dalian, to that at 3,000kW and providing a total output of
of Situti Harbour of Yantai. Zhong Tie Bo Hai 1 Hao 12,000kW. The engines are assembled at the
made the crossing with 50 rail freight wagons Caterpillar Motoren Guangdong factory near
carrying cargo such as timber and grain. Train access is aft, via a top-hinged door Guangzhou, using component packs supplied
Weather conditions in the Bohai Strait are by Caterpillar Motoren’s main plant in Kiel,
difficult and often unpredictable. According to Germany, to guarantee identical quality.
the Xinhua news agency, between 1997 and The Caterpillar Motoren Guangdong facility
2003 eight major shipping accidents have taken has manufactured, tested and supplied MaK
place in the area, often called China’s ’Bermuda M453C medium speed engines for propulsion and
Triangle’. In November 1999, the ferry Dashun genset duties since 1996. Guangdong’s operations
caught fire, broke up and sank in rough seas were initiated in 1994 by MaK Motoren and the
and gale force winds near Yantai while sailing to Guangzhou Diesel Engine factory.
Dalian. Only 22 of the 304 passengers survived in Rising regional and international demand for
the country’s worst shipping disaster in modern its MaK M25 medium speed engine for propulsion
times. Zhong Tie Bo Hai 1 Hao is designed to be and genset drive applications stimulated Hamburg-
able to operate in winds of up to 40 knots. 50 freight wagons can be accommodated based Caterpillar Marine Power Systems to extend
Construction work on the series prototype production of the design to China, reducing
started in mid-December 2004, and Zhong Tie Bo delivery times and transportation costs.
Hai 1 Hao was launched in mid-January this year. ABB’s propulsion package comprises a pair
Sea trials took place in August, after which final of 4,088kW Compact Azipod propulsion drives,
finishing of the vessel was carried out in Yantai. four 2,880kW main alternators, transformers,
Construction of the second vessel started one medium-voltage 6.6kV main switchboard,
in July 2005, and its original delivery date was power management system and remote control.
set for January 2007, although this has been Alstom Power Foundry supplied the two 3.6m-
put back. According to the original schedule, diameter propellers for the Compact Azipod units
construction of the third vessel will begin in and other Azipod cast components. ABB also
April 2007 with delivery in August 2008. Tianjin delivered a pair of 715kW bow thruster motors.
Xingang Shipyard received the order for this The contract for propulsion plant for the
ferry in June this year. The ferry’s forward lounge first two vessels was received in May 2004, and
On the main deck the vessel can carry for the third vessel this summer. ABB says that
a 4,000-tonne freight train with 50 wagons Passenger access is arranged through an high performance, high quality and safety, with
accommodated in five lanes, which aggregate a enclosed bridge with a hydraulic raising and low maintenance costs and initial cost, were the
total length of some 768m. The main casing is extension mechanism. Shenzhen CIMC – Tianda main reasons for the selection of the Azipods for
arranged near amidships. The train access is aft, Airport Support Ltd built the ship’s two passenger the vessels. The system also provides low noise,
through a top-hinged stern door. boarding bridges from Sinorail Bohai Train low vibration and improved manoeuvrability,
Fifty 20-tonne trucks and 25 cars can be Ferry’s facility and became the first manufacturer the company added.
transported on the upper deck, which has of ship-boarding bridges in China. According to Tianjin New Harbor Shipping,
six truck lanes and a total lane length of Forward on the weatherdeck and on the three compared with a diesel-mechanical propulsion
450m. Trailers and cars access the upper open upper decks are the passenger and crew facilities, system, diesel-electric propulsion can save 1,500
weatherdeck via a shore-based side ramp on the with the wheelhouse on the uppermost level. The tonnes of fuel and 30 tonnes of lubricating oil
starboard side of the vessel. The hydraulically vessel can carry about 480 passengers and 57 a year. With current fuel prices in China being
operated ramp is 29m long and 4.5m wide crew members. There are 98 passenger cabins, about 2,400 yuan (US$300) per tonne, and
with a maximum slope of 10 per cent. in five different categories: the first-class and the lubricating oil prices about 1,000 yuan (US$125)
per tonne, this amounts to savings of about 3.9

China’s second train ferry million yuan (about US$500,000) each year.
Zhong Tie Bo Hai 1 Hao is fitted with an
The Bohai Strait crossing is the second train ferry service in China, and also the longest. The first Intering-type stabilisation and heeling control
transport ferry service operates across the Qiongzhou Straits in south China to Hainan Island, system and a pair of Rolls-Royce Neptune 400
and was inaugurated in January 2003. Designed by MARIC, this train ferry was built at Jiangnan, folding fin stabilisers. Beijing Highlander Digital
and has a capacity of 40 freight wagons on four recessed tracks. Alternatively it can carry 50 five- Record Technology – a producer of voyage data
tonne lorries and amenities provided for 1,200 passengers and 40 cars, plus 120 cars and truck recorders, speed logs and remote supervision
drivers. The vessel has two Wärtsilä 6L32 engines driving Rolls-Royce Aquamaster thrusters. systems, supplied the newbuilding with a range
of equipment. FT

www.ferrytechnology.com Ferry Technology I December 2006 I 17

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