Comprehensive sea trials of Austal’s benchmark ferry project, Hull 260, “Benchijigua Express” have been completed exceeding Austal’s technical expectation for the highly anticipated trimaran hull design and to the great satisfaction of owner Fred. Olsen, S.A.
Austal Chairman, Mr John Rothwell commented: “Following an unprecedented five year program of research and development we are delighted to see this new fast ferry design achieve such outstanding performance in sea trials. Having tested the vessel in conditions in which most current generation high speed vessels would have been forced to cease operations, our faith in the trimaran has been justified”.
This achievement is significantly related to the current design contract for the US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) that is based on the 127 metre trimaran hull platform. The decision on the option to build an initial one or two LCS vessels is expected towards the end of October 2005.
“With a potential 60 LCS vessels to be built over the next 15 years the success of “Benchijigua Express” provides enormous support in our efforts to be a major force in the supply of these vessels and to grow Austal’s military shipbuilding presence internationally”, said Mr Rothwell.
Having been accepted by Fred. Olsen, S.A. “Benchijigua Express” will depart the Austal shipyard this week to travel to the Canary Islands where the ferry will operate on an intra-island service.
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Austal Trimaran; is Basis for General Dynamics / Austal Littoral Combat Ship Proposal for US Navy
