The boatbuilders at the Brødrene Aa shipyard in Hyen, on the west coast of Norway, have been using lightweight materials and composite solutions since the 1970s. The sightseeing boat "Vision Of The Fjords", which has now been built using SAERTEX carbon fiber fabrics, is forward-looking in several respects: the hull and superstructure are largely made of carbon and it has one of the most modern hybrid drives.
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Our customer, Brødrene Aa, was commissioned to develop a ship that would be used for tourist excursions in Europe's longest and deepest fjord. The major challenge was to reconcile mass tourism with the beauty of untouched nature. At the same time, the Norwegian government set the shipbuilders ambitious targets and goals for reducing exhaust emissions in the country's ferry operations.
The Nærøyfjord, which will be navigated by the new, catamaran-designed ship, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site for many years. The ferry therefore had to be able to operate quietly and in an environmentally friendly manner. The landscape surrounding the fjord was incorporated into the design of the vessel. The so-called "Trollstigen" - a historic serpentine path - served as a model for the innovative decks, which ascend diagonally in a zig-zag direction.
Brødrene Aa relied on consistent lightweight construction to achieve the targets for reducing noise and exhaust emissions. With a length of 41 meters and a width of 15 meters, the ship can carry up to 400 passengers. Despite this, the hull, decks and superstructure are largely made of lightweight carbon sandwich laminates instead of solid aluminum or steel. The resulting weight savings of almost 50 percent made the sensible use of hybrid propulsion possible in the first place and led to a reduction in emissions of more than 20 percent.
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Energy savings through weight reduction
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Reduced emissions through the use of electric motors
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Longer operating times due to higher corrosion resistance
90 percent of the CO2 emissions produced during the life cycle of a ship are generated during the operation of the vessel. This is why the companies and engineers involved in the development of the "Vision Of The Fjords" focused precisely on this aspect, combining an energy-saving catamaran design with the use of lightweight and durable materials and environmentally friendly propulsion technology.
Where structural components made of steel and aluminum were previously used, carbon components were now used. The basis was multiaxial carbon fiber fabrics from SAERTEX, whose fiber orientation and number of layers were individually adapted for this project depending on the component requirements. Depending on the mechanical requirements, unidirectional, biaxial, triaxial and quadraxial fabrics were used for the "Vision Of The Fjords". The technical highlight and biggest challenge of this project was the production of the carbon hull elements. These 41-metre-long and 5-metre-high components were impregnated with a special resin in one piece using a vacuum infusion process. For this purpose, it was necessary to keep the drapability of the fabric in the mold as high as possible for as long as possible. The SAERTEX development team had researched the perfect combination of carbon fiber fabrics, flow properties and vinyl ester resin in the laboratory. This, together with the decades of expertise of Brødrene Aa's employees, brought the project to a successful conclusion.
In less than a year of development, Brødrene Aa was able to realize this forward-looking boat project. The "Vision Of The Fjords" has been in operation on the 32-kilometre route between the ports of Flåm and Gudvangenund since July 2016. Around 700 trips a year are planned for the "Vision Of The Fjords". On the most scenic part of the passage, the "Vision Of The Fjords" glides almost silently through the fjord landscape at 10 knots with purely electric propulsion, allowing tourists to experience nature in an impressive way. When using the diesel engines, the "Vision Of The Fjords" can reach a speed of 19 knots. The shipping company The Fjords AS has already ordered further ferries of the same design.
SAERTEX also congratulates Brødrene Aa on winning the prestigious "Ship Of The Year 2016" award, which the Norwegian carbon shipbuilders received at this year's SMM trade fair in Hamburg.
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