Two 107 meter or 351 foot catamaran ferries will be built for passenger and vehicle transportation between the Hawaiian Islands. One of the ferries is well into its construction; it will be ready for delivery in the first half of 2007. The second ferry is in the early stages of its build and should be set for delivery in the beginning of 2009. These gargantuan catamarans will be for Hawaii Superferry (HSF). They will shuttle passengers from Honolulu to Maui and Kauai in three hours and from Honolulu to the Big Island in four hours. The mammoth catamarans will be able to sustain 866 passengers and 282 vehicles. In order to move such an enormous load the catamarans will be fitted with 20 cylinder MTU 8000 Series engines. Each power plant will produce 8,200 Kilowatts or 10,995 horsepower and weigh 99,208 pounds. Each one of the catamarans will have 4 of these monster sized engines which will be a total of 43,993 horsepower and 396,832 pounds just in engine weight alone. The catamaran ferries will be the largest aluminum vessels ever built on U.S. soil. The first ship which will be completed in 2007 its four engines were installed three weeks ahead of schedule which was a tremendous feat, given the grandeur of this build. This will be Hawaiis first high speed vehicle passenger transport service. For additional information, please visit www.catamarans.com. |
