b'FOGHORNFOCUS: SHIPBUILDINGnecessary lightweight, durable, low-maintenance foundation upon which every other progressive piece of equipment is installed. Carbon fiber ferries arent new. Brdrene Aa of Hyen, Norway, the shipyard that built Future of the Fjords, also built the worlds first carbon fiber commercial vessel in 2002. In the years since then, major ferry operators in Norway have begun replacing their aluminum and steel ferries with carbon fiber vessels. Today, 58 percent of all new ferry orders in Norway are for carbon fiber hulls.The trend toward carbon has extended far beyond Norway. TheseCarbon fiber is used to construct a ferry in Norway.new carbon fiber ferries are delivered and operated throughout Europe and Asia. Here, on the other side of thehave been using carbon to create theWhen engineering a ferry, this strength-pond, we havent yet put a carbon fiberworlds highest-performing boats,to-weight ratio allows a builder to ferry into operation. including the high-speed Americasequip the vessel with significantly Thats not to say were notCup and Volvo Ocean Race sailboatssmaller engines while reaching the making use of carbon fiber technol- that reach speeds in excess of 40 knotssame speeds. The potential perfor-ogy. North America is actually theunder sail. mance applications snowball from leading consumer of carbon fiber.there. A smaller engine improves Manufacturers use approximatelyWhats So Great about Carbon Fiber? fuel efficiency. Less fuel consump-one-third of the global carbon market,Carbon fiber is a lighter, strongertion reduces operating costs and CO2 predominantly in the aerospace andmaterial than metals. An empty carbonemissions.defense segments. The marine segmentfiber ferry hull is approximately 40Even without the hybrid or electric uses a significant amount of carbonpercent lighter than its lightest metalspropulsion systems, the fiscal and en-fiber as well. Custom yacht builderscounterpart of comparable strength.vironmental benefits of a carbon fiber hull in a diesel-powered ferry are con-siderable. A side-by-side comparison of a carbon ferry versus a lightweight metal one on the same route and helmed by the same operators shows the net positive results of building with lighter weight materials.This was proved in 2014 when another Norwegian aluminum ferry was replaced with a carbon fiber one. Both carried the same number of pas-sengers (275) on the same route and at the same service speed using waterjet propulsion, but the performance differ-ences were remarkable. The older aluminum ferry, which had been in service since 2002, carried two 3,000-horsepower 16-volt 4000 M70 MTUs. Because the new carbon U S A B U I L D E R O F fiber ferry weighed significantly less, it was fit out with two MTUs with almost half the power: 1,900-horsepower www.armstrongmarine.com | sales@armstrongmarine.com | (360) 457-5752 16-volt 2000 M72s. 16 APRIL 2019FOGHORN'