FSG cuts first steel for Searoad RoRo
Tony Johnson (left), Technical Marine manager of Australian shipping company SeaRoad, and FSG CEO Philipp Maracke at the first steel cut of the RoRo vessel in Flensburg. (Source: FSG)
Germany’s Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) has begun construction of a new LNG-powered RoRo ferry for Australian shipping company, Searoad. The 210m-long vessel, due for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2023, will be deployed on the route across the Bass Strait between Devonport in Tasmania and Melbourne.
Costing more than EUR 100 million and funded in part by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the RoRo will have a capacity of 4,227 lane-metres, of which close to 90% will be for trailers and freight. It will also be capable of shipping heavy cargoes of up to 100 tonnes.
The shipbuilder and the Australian owner have history. The dual-fuel Searoad Mersey II, built at Flensburger, was commissioned by Searoad in 2016, and the Liekut, also constructed at Flensburger, joined the Searoad fleet in April 2021 on a three-year charter.
