PHOTO: Mark Gerretsen (MP for Kingston and the Islands), Leo Postma, (Sales Manager, Damen Shipyards Gorinchem), Sophie Kiwala (Member of Provincial Parliament), Mike Bossio (MP of Hastings-Lennox and Addington)

The Government of Ontario and Damen Shipyards Group have signed a contract for the design, build and delivery for two “road” ferries to operate in the Canadian waters of the Great Lakes. The ferries will be a 68-metre Damen Road Ferry 6819 and a 98-metre Damen Road Ferry 9819. Although one vessel is 30 metres longer than the other they will share many design features and equipment specifications. Both will also be hybrid-ready, enabling them to be fitted with batteries when required. Both vessels are being designed in-house by Damen and will be fully customised for the local infrastructure.

AIDA Cruises commissioned Evac to conduct the retrofit of a modern fresh water generation system on AIDAcara, the first cruise ship of the AIDA fleet.

“The bunkering of water in ports is not only pretty expensive, but in some ports around the world the water quality cannot be guaranteed,” says Timo Kern, Project Manager with Evac Germany. “If for some reason you can’t get water in port, then the operational area of your ship is limited.”