Flensburg: Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) successfully launched ‘Loch Seaforth’ at noon today for Scottish customer Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL). The ship is a state-of-the-art, complex RoPax ferry built to carry up to 700 passengers and 143 cars, or 20 trucks. In just three months time the 116 metre long ‘Loch Seaforth’ will link the mainland of northwestern Scotland with the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides on the Stornoway-Ullapool route. Because of her high-value, modern design and construction, the ferry is suitable for round-the-clock operation and as a result will replace two older ferry ships.
“When we reached agreement on this project with CMAL a year and a half ago, the contract was dependent on the highest possible degree of reliability”, recalls FSG chief Peter Sierk. It was not only that CMAL wanted to start its service with ‘Loch Seaforth’ on schedule in July of 2014. “It was also because ‘Loch Seaforth’ was to replace two older ferries in 24 hour operation on a dependable, no-delay time-table that CMAL placed such very high demands on reliable and trouble-free daily operation”, adds Sierk.
Today’s launch demonstrates FSG capability yet again. “We are completely on schedule”, commented Sierk “and we are convinced that we will be able to hand over this newbuilding to our customer right on time, as we have done with all our other ships over the past 15 years”
It was in summer 2012 that the Flensburger Werft bid won the contract, over stiff international competition, because of many advantages: delivery and deadline reliability, high cost effectiveness, an outstanding price-performance ratio and top-class Flensburg shipbuilding quality along with low operational costs and low emissions.
“The construction of ‘Loch Seaforth’ demonstrates once again that we succeed when we develop individual and innovative solutions on behalf of customers. Our strength lies in the fact that we understand the requirements of the customer, make intensive efforts to try to meet them and then develop a tailor-made solution. That’s something you find almost nowhere else”, says Peter Sierk.